AN online tool is helping schools to reduce power bills while proving useful in the classroom.
Energy Eye is a computer programme that allows users to monitor electricity use through tailored graphs and charts to see where waste occurs and where savings can be made.
Schools’ electricity bills totalled £835,000 in the financial year 2011/12.
A simple conversion of schools’ meters has given them access to Energy Eye, which is being rolled out across government sites that consume the most power.
Mark Smith, of the Manx Electricity Authority, is deploying the programme across government and training schools’ head teachers and site managers in its use so they and their pupils can get the most from it.
He explained: ‘It enables schools to analyse their power usage in a variety of ways and identify possible cost savings.’
Schools can review the previous day’s data each morning in formats they choose and pre-set their requirements so the same data is produced daily, weekly, etc.
As power use surges when it’s dark or cold, Energy Eye allows schools to compare electricity usage to weather over a period of time. Power use trends over time can be analysed by pupils as part of their lessons. Charts can pinpoint where equipment has been left on overnight. Schools can compare data across education, using the key performance indicator of units of electricity per square metre and taking into account the size, age and energy efficiency of buildings.
And he said the pupil-friendly dashboard was proving popular with schools’ eco-councils and the like.
To encourage the use of Energy Eye, the Department of Economic Development is, in conjunction with the Department of Education and Children, launching the first Junior Energy Awards this term,
Primary classes and secondary eco groups will submit projects they have carried out using the programme. They will be judged on how imaginative they are, how they are applied, and how much they can potentially save.
Judging takes place in July and winners from each category will visit either the energy from waste plant in Braddan or the MEA’s combined cycle gas turbine plant at Pulrose.
The best projects will be showcased alongside those entered into the wider Energy Awards at the DED’s Energy Expo marquee at the Royal Manx Agricultural Show in August. Energy Eye is funded by the Isle of Man Government’s Energy Initiatives Capital Fund.
Peter Longworth, of the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, said: ‘Energy Eye is already in use at 55 government sites, including many schools, and has already proved invaluable in identifying sites with unusual consumption patterns, poor power factor or excess available supply capacity, all of which can be readily improved.’
