Sustainability    

THURSDAY 16TH OCTOBER    NARANGA SCHOOL'S  ENERGY AUDIT                  

As a Resource Smart School, Naranga School had a major task this year to renew our Energy module before the due date to maintain our star rating. With the help of Ceres staff Emma Grace and Sarah, Pathways sustainability students and Upper Junior McFaul began to work through our Energy audit. 

Upper Junior Mc Faul students joined us for session 5. They focused on energy sources in their classroom and listed what energy sources were on standby like the smartboard, switched on or was switched off. 

Pathways students Ryan and Kane learned how to use equipment to measure brightness and temperature. We measured rooms and areas in the main building, new building and specialist areas. 

Ryan learned how to use a light meter to measure the amount of brightness in a room. The lux is a standard unit in Australia for measuring light. We discovered that the office, staffroom, music room and two Pathways rooms all had higher lux readings. Lights were switched on even though we could take advantage of natural light to make energy savings. 

Kane used a digital thermometer to measure temperature readings in rooms and the group decided whether the rooms were at a comfortable temperature. Eight rooms out of eleven had heating appliances switched off. The MPR, office, staffroom and art room all had temperature settings of 24 C which was too high. 

However, ten rooms had three energy saving actions in place with blinds, curtains, draught proofing for doors, skylights and double glazing. 

A spot check in rooms revealed that only a few classes have their Energy saving posters displayed and more posters need to be given out and displayed in the main building, specialist areas and classrooms to remind staff and students how to save energy. Pathways students will remind staff at a whole school assembly to display their posters. Students only checked areas they were permitted to enter. 

Students thought lighting and heating that comes on automatically in rooms in the new building could be turned off if rooms are unoccupied and no specialist classes timetabled. It got the students thinking about school holidays and as a group we worked on some Switch off actions to present to Leadership for consideration to make energy savings. 

I’d like to thank staff and students who took part in our Energy audit.