£500 million to help energy efficiency upgrades

The Department for Education (DfE) blog has confirmed that they are investing £500million to help state schools and colleges with energy efficiency upgrades, helping to manage energy consumption and save on bills.

The DfE believe that making investments to improve energy efficiency will help schools and colleges manage their costs, with schools best placed to know how to invest this funding to improve energy efficiency.

The money could be used to install better heating controls, insulation to reduce heat loss from pipes or switching to energy efficient lighting like LEDs. This investment  should work out, on average, as £42,000 per secondary school and £16,000 for a primary school with funding paid to schools in December.

This funding comes on top of £1.8billion of capital funding already committed this year for improving the condition of school buildings, and the extra £2 billion revenue funding going to into our school budgets next year and the year after.

The DfE have also published new guidance for schools and colleges to help them reduce energy usage and maximise energy efficiency this winter and beyond. It includes guidance on how to:

• Understand energy usage and conduct audits to find energy savings
• Develop a plan to reduce energy use through good practices and behaviour change
• Use investment to make interventions that can reduce energy consumption.

They also provide guidance for schools and those responsible for school buildings on managing energy and water use, undertaking capital projects and strategic estate management in good estate management for schools (GEMS)