- Understand your electricity use

In order to cut your electricity bill you need good quality information about where electricity is being consumed. In a residential environment an energy meter that displays total household consumption is sufficient. You turn on the kettle and you can see the effect immediately. But in a commercial setting, the scale of energy consumption makes a single cost figure meaningless.

Enistic offers a solution to this problem that is easy to install and operate. A range of products allow the measurement of electricity consumption by electrical circuit (lighting, air conditioning etc.). With the use of sophisticated gang plugs energy use can also be measured by workstation or device (e.g. each workstation in the ICT suite or a single photocopier).

The process

1) The way this process works best is to install the equipment and monitor your electricity consumption for a number of months. Typically, some immediate steps are highlighted and changes can be made which result in a 10% saving to the electricity bill.
2) Next, we sit down with you to work out a plan of action to change the way that people behave with their use of electricity. Remember, electricity doesn't get used on its own. It is humans that cause it to be used. The plan would incorporate simple steps such as signs reminding pupils to turn off lights, right through to more complex programmes to turn off unused equipment automatically in the evening, and back on again in time for school the next morning. These changes should generate a further 10-15% saving from your electricity bill.

Make it part of the curriculum

Beyond the simple exercise of saving money, one of the great opportunities in this process is to integrate it into the curriculum. Our web based reporting system generates data about power usage in the school.

Use this in the science lesson plans to understand the relative use of electricity by different machines.
Use it in maths lessons to understand statistics, graphing, and ratios.
Use the process in physical education classes - pedal a generator for 5 minutes and see how long the stored electricity lights a bulb. Really feel how much energy is used.

Eco-Shools

If your school is trying to achieve an award under the Eco-Schools program the Enistic solution is the ideal framework for the Energy Topic. With the understanding of how energy is used in your school, you can include all the pupils and staff in the changes necessary.