School Energy Surveys Can Make a Difference

By examining their school’s energy use, pupils find out about the main factors shaping energy consumption. This helps them to change their own everyday behaviour in ways that will save energy. Such surveys should consider heating, electricity consumption and the use of hot water.

In many schools, caretakers or property maintenance staff may be able to provide pupils with useful information about their school’s energy consumption. If no details are available in the school, pupils can consult local energy suppliers or the municipal authority’s education or finance department.

Energy survey projects

A school’s energy use can be surveyed in more detail through a longer project over a period of one or even two years, with pupils logging weekly figures for the school’s energy consumption, together with records of outdoor temperatures, and estimates of how much the school has been in use during each week.

Pupils can compare their school’s energy consumption with other schools in Finland and abroad, using the international Share and create! website. When figures are fed into this site, it automatically produces graphical information illustrating schools’ weekly and seasonal energy consumption. Teachers are recommended to register their schools with the site, and take advantage of the useful information it provides when planning their lessons.