Advice from Sustainability Expert, John Edwards
John has been involved in education for over 25 years. In recent years, his role has predominantly focused on working with schools and Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) to help them become more energy-efficient and reduce costs. He is an accredited trainer and leads courses on behalf of the Carbon Literacy Project.
John currently consults on Net Zero projects helping schools and MATs to develop strategies resulting in more sustainable energy, therefore reducing their carbon footprint and costs.
Research undertaken by the DfE (2021) suggests that for a typical secondary school in England, the energy bill for its ICT systems is around £60,000. Adopting a more sustainable approach can reduce this by 35% – therefore indicating a saving of £20,000 per annum.
With schools estimated to be contributing 2% of the total UK greenhouse emissions, compared to just 1.9% attributed to aviation, a significant change is required within schools and education.
The typical carbon footprint for a school is shown in the chart below:
Carbon Emissions from Schools: Where they arise and how to reduce them (2008)
The most significant sector is related to procurement. This includes the services and products purchased, as well as behaviours in terms of what schools do with items at the end of life and what is thrown away. This part also includes the ICT Systems and devices. Changing the way schools use devices and the types purchased can save the school a lot of money and reduce its carbon footprint.
Things for schools to consider when purchasing electronic equipment:
- Check for eco certificates/labels.
- Find out how much of the device is made from recycled materials.
- Check the packaging of the equipment.
- Consider purchasing reconditioned/refurbished devices.
- Compare energy consumption, especially concerning desktops with separate monitors and mobile devices.
Schools should also consider reusing IT equipment as a means of improving its sustainability. A reconditioned three-year-old top-of-the-range laptop can be purchased for a reasonable price and will still be powerful enough for the school’s needs for the 3-4 year expected lifetime. This extends the life of an existing device in a new role.
Another element included within procurement data is the use of paper, print and stationery. Schools are encouraged to reconsider their use of technology and how the use of devices can reduce these expenditures and use. Sharing and reading pdf files on screen is a good starting point, rather than printing documents to read or review.
Schools that move to 1:1 devices for students have proven this can significantly reduce the use of paper-based resources in the classroom, with some institutions going as far as suggesting the costs saved on print were nearly equal to the cost of leasing devices.
If a school is on its way to improving sustainability, it is key for them to remain fully committed to making a change. A simple adjustment in behaviour can make savings.
Case Study 1: School Business Manager: Billy Goodall, Telford Park School
Telford Park School is a coeducational secondary school based in Stirchley, Telford. It has 600+ students enrolled and employs over 80 members of staff. Sponsored by the Communities Academy Trust, this state school has a catchment area which includes primary schools and residents from within the Telford and Wrekin area.
Billy Goodall, the school business manager, agreed to participate in an interview to explore how the school approaches sustainability and what measures they currently have in place to ensure their strategy is effective.
As a recent build (within the last 9 years), the school has some Smart Building features, such as lights being linked to motion sensors. However, the school has been investing in ways to reduce its energy consumption, such as replacing all lighting with LED solutions that reduce consumption and costs.
The school has recently commissioned solar panels to be installed this summer. Costs for this have been spread over 25 years, and government grants provided to support schools with the rising energy costs have helped finance this activity. Billy is confident that this will reduce future energy costs to levels similar to those before the recent cost of living increases.
When monitoring heating throughout the school, they have recently changed their scheduling, set lower minimum temperatures and reduced usage throughout the summer to avoid excessive usage. The school is now heated first thing in the morning, and then the heating is switched off for the rest of the day. This has helped reduce consumption.
Air con is in all the switch/server rooms and set to 18 degrees. If it drops below this marker, then the air con will turn off. They have an alert built in when switches begin to overheat.
There is only one server on-site. This is required for a few systems, such as the school CCTV. The rest of the school data is now stored in the cloud via solutions such as Microsoft 365 and SharePoint.
Regarding devices, the school currently utilises around 270 student laptops and approximately 100 iPads. Staff previously had a lack of confidence in the reliability of the student laptops, but since the new IT Manager was able to switch the device management over to Microsoft Intune, reliability has improved, and this has resulted in renewed confidence among staff.
Student laptops are stored and charged in trolleys. The trolleys use timers to ensure devices are only on charged between 7.30 am and 8 pm. This is to ensure devices are ready to use in lessons but may need to be reviewed from an energy consumption point.
Staff laptops are connected to interactive screens at the front of the class and have mirroring options available. The interactive element of the front-of-class screens is switched off in many classrooms. Many staff only present information on the screen, and by switching the interactive features off, the screen consumes less energy.
Recently, the school has been considering a kill switch and boot for both the start and end of the day. This is largely due to the IT Suite not switching off their desktop PCs regularly.
When devices reach the end of life, the school uses a local technology recycling company to collect the devices and provide a GDPR-compliant certificate for each machine. The company then refurbish and repurposes devices. Any that are unusable are broken down into recycling elements with zero parts going to landfill.
Regarding paper and print, the school uses a pallet of paper each month. However, students no longer tend to print their work, and staff are reminded to use digital methods to store and share information. Papercut software is used to monitor printing, but the school does not currently restrict the budget. Recycling and confidential shredding are encouraged and available on-site. Students continue to use workbooks and will often stick printed sheets into them.
Ongoing financials are a key priority for Telford Park School. They have a Green Team in place – a group of students who meet regularly to discuss concerns and raise ideas. SLT is requested to attend these meetings and discuss efforts being made. The Green Team took an active role in the recent commissioning of solar panels, so there is proof of the effectiveness of this group of individuals coming together.
Telford Park School is clearly addressing its carbon footprint. This is driven by a focus on reducing costs, as it is for most schools. As the school is not very old, many factors are already in place, but it is apparent that individuals are making a difference to ensure the amount of energy consumed and waste produced is minimised. The appointment of a student body is a great concept, but we have advised the school to establish a working group involving staff and management.
The school is moving to a cloud-first digital strategy that will help reduce its carbon footprint. However, the charging cycles for laptops and current device settings should be reviewed to ease the strain on the national grid. This would reduce the demand for energy generated via fossil fuels during peak times.
Case Study 2: Technology Recycling Company: Matt Giles, MD Tradology
Matt Giles is the Managing Director of Tradology, a technology recycling company established in 2019. Tradology services the education and business markets, and its role is to collect, recycle and refurbish electronic equipment.
Around 90% of the work undertaken by Tradology is education focussed, and the core service includes:
- Free collection of any technology, any age.
- Valuation of the technology collected, with any residual value being released back to the schools as a bacs payment.
- GDPR compliant data wipe certificates are provided back to the school for all devices.
- Technology is refurbished and repurposed with zero components going to landfill.
Tradology has seen consistent growth in demand, but many schools are still unaware of their responsibilities regarding how they should dispose of their technology responsibly. A similar lack of awareness also exists regarding the value schools can unlock by recycling technology with authorised companies.
Schools, therefore, need to be made aware of the following:
- It is a legal requirement that schools dispose of their electrical and electronic waste in a safe and ecological manner (WEEE Regulations).
- There is value in old technology. However, the older the device, the less valuable it becomes. Schools should consider reducing their refresh cycles instead of’ sweating’ IT assets. By recycling a device earlier, you can release a higher value to offset costs linked to purchasing new devices.
For example, the Brighter Futures Programme pays between £50-£150 for devices traded in when purchasing qualifying devices. However, the devices need to be less than 10 years old.
- Schools will make more money from returned products if they are set up to be properly decommissioned.
- This means all IDs should be removed and any device management locks removed.
- BIOS locks and passwords were removed
- All data scrubbed off (although Tradology do this to ensure GDPR compliance).
- They should be reset to factory settings and, therefore, fully unlocked.
Reflecting on the fact that 45% of a school’s carbon footprint is related to procurement. Tradology is a great example of how schools can utilise responsible companies who are also working towards a Net Zero target. For example, when Tradology travels to collect equipment, they donate funds to plant trees to offset their carbon emissions from each trip.
How Tradology UK’s Recycling Service works:
