Switched on Rugby school collects climate change prize
Henry Hinde Infants school in Rugby is due to collect £250 as first prize in a competition to raise awareness of climate change in Warwickshire’s schools.
Schools were challenged by Warwickshire County Council to carry out a ‘Secret Energy Check’, recording their electricity consumption for a week in the run-up to last year’s Switch It Off week, then checking their readings again once they had promoted the campaign throughout the school.
It was a close-fought contest between Henry Hinde Infants and Wilmcote Primary in Stratford, with both schools recording around a 50% drop in their electricity consumption. However, Henry Hinde Infants were voted the winners as their spot checks on classrooms showed that they had switched off more electrical items, rather than leave them on stand-by.
The competition proved an excellent element of the `Switch it off’ campaign, which encourages people to turn off appliances when not in use, and particularly not to leave electrical items on stand by.
For example, a television watched for just four hours a day, yet left on stand-by for the remaining 20 hours will cost £61 a year, similarly an inkjet printer left on stand-by for 20 hours a day will cost £33 per year; these costs can be slashed dramatically by simply turning them off rather than leaving them on stand-by.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said:
“It may sound clichéd but the children of Warwickshire are our future, and it’s vital that they understand the impact they can have every day on preventing climate change by taking very simple actions. And it gives them a chance to tell their teachers off if they see them leaving lights on in classrooms!
“If everyone in Warwickshire, Coventry and Worcestershire stopped leaving appliances on stand by it would prevent 86,322 tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere through wasted electricity and save more than £20m (enough to pay the annual electricity bill for 71,953 homes).”
For more information on taking steps to `Switch it off’ visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/switchitoff or call the energy advice hotline on 0800 512012.