Energy efficiency & solar panels

We have teamed up with eEnergy who help us to procure green energy as well as produce our own. eEnergy also help us to monitor usage and identify where there might be wastage, which is all part of a virtuous cycle of saving and reinvesting.

With this programme, not only we show children that taking care of the environment is vital leading by example, but we also save money, which allows us to re-invest in schools’ activities and pupils’ education.

The savings generated over the 7-year period of the partnership contracts for eEnergy and MyZeERO contracts will more than offset the total value of the monthly payments. eEnergy helps organisations to achieve three of the key steps to achieving net zero: understand energy consumption, transition from brown to green energy and reduce energy usage. Read their press release on our project here.

Solar Panels

Starting in Spring 2022, we have installed solar panels on school roofs. We managed to cut 50% of carbon emissions (in some schools), which is not only a considerable benefit for the environment, but it will also bring substantial savings over the coming years.

Watling Park School, Halley House School and Evendons Primary School and Braywick Court School have been fitted with solar panels, and the programme will be rolled out to all schools on the condition that structural feasibility for all buildings has been assured.

LED efficient lighting

eEnergy have replaced five of our schools (Evendons Primary, Halley House, Kilburn Grange, Rutherford House and Whitehall Park) inefficient lights with new LED lighting.

Not only the new lighting has improved the learning environment for our children, but it has also reduced the carbon emissions by up to 50% (in some schools). We are able to calculate these figures thanks to the smart meters fitted in all school buildings, which are able to monitor the consumption of energy down to the individual plug.

In the space of 12 months, LED lighting reduced lighting costs by 60%, cut carbon emissions by 30 tonnes per year and is expected to save us £330,000 over 10 years.

We removed old light fittings and, with the help of Recycling Lives – who support and sustain charity programmes for offender rehabilitation, residential support, and food redistribution – these were sorted and recycled.

The video above features BPET CEO Mark Greatrex and Halley House School Headteacher at the time, Ms Claire Syms, talking about the first steps we took with eLight for LED Lighting and Intelligent Metering known as MY ZeERO.

MyZeERO, the intelligent metering

All our schools have the MyZeERO Intelligent Metering System installed. This gives us real time, accurate usage data by school to allow us to evaluate our bills and procure our utilities in a much more accurate manner.

There are several ways in which the installation of MyZeERO supports us in both the short the long term:

1. It provides us with accurate data in order to evaluate our bills
2. It can tell us when and where our energy wastage is at its highest. This allows each school to identify faults (i.e. lighting being left on, or coming on during the night) and provide staff and pupils with real life data to support educational conversations around delivering cultural change
3. It will enable us to re-tender for our energy contracts more effectively and efficiently in the future.