The government-funded Energy in Schools programme, helping schools understand their energy consumption, has been extended to 20 schools across England following a successful pilot.
The programme, supported by Samsung, and run in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Energy, My Utility Genius Commercial and Lancaster University, was originally piloted in St Mary Redcliffe Primary School in Bristol, and Ellel St John the Evangelist Church of England Primary School and Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School in Lancaster.
As part of the initiative, teachers and students will learn how the Internet of Things (IoT) can be used to help reduce energy consumption and the carbon footprint of their school, as well as how to save money. They will be able to see their real-time energy usage, pricing and carbon emissions data via a Samsung energy management platform, and smart sensors installed throughout the school.
The initiative allows us to engage with more young British talent to get them not only involved but excited about the potential that technology brings.
– Tej Dosanjh, Samsung
Pupils will also take part in coding lessons using the BBC micro:bit, which will be connected to the energy management platform. They will learn to program and work on projects that collect and visualise their own data sets. This will include monitoring and measuring classroom temperature to program a light bulb to turn green when too cold, and red when too hot.
Teg Dosanjh, director of connected living at Samsung, said: “We are giving more pupils the chance to play an active role in adapting how their school uses energy whilst learning coding skills to control the Internet of Things devices.
“The initiative allows us to engage with more young British talent to get them not only involved but excited about the potential that technology brings.”
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Samsung has been awarded government funding as part of a Smart Energy Management Innovation Competition led by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and is working with partners to expand the programme.
More information is available at www.energyinschools.co.uk/
To read more about how edtech is addressing climate change, keep an eye out for our special report in the September issue.