Sustainability
When you can see what every block is using, you can cut it.
Every dorm, classroom block, and kitchen has its own water and power use, but on the bill they all get added together. We meter them separately so you can see who is using what, run a comparison between dorms, and notice when something is wrong before it becomes expensive.
What we measure
Mains vs submeters
When the school is asleep, the mains reading and the sum of the submeters should be roughly the same. If they keep disagreeing for an hour or two, there is probably a leak somewhere on the property, and we send someone a message that night instead of letting it run until morning.
This week · sample
Per-building leaderboards.
Water
litres / bed
By dorm wing
- 1. Girls' Dorm · West38 L
- 2. Girls' Dorm · East42 L
- 3. Boys' Dorm · North51 L
- 4. Boys' Dorm · South89 L
Power
kWh / learner
By classroom block
- 1. Block A · Form 1–228 kWh
- 2. Block A · Form 3–431 kWh
- 3. Block B · Form 5–644 kWh
- 4. Kitchen + Dining68 kWh
What it means in practice
What the bursar, the houses, and the board each get out of it.
For the bursar
You find leaks the same night they start.
When the school is asleep, the mains meter and the sum of the submeters should match. If they don't, something is leaking somewhere and you get a message before the morning shift starts. We have seen schools waste thousands of litres in a single night before anyone noticed.
For the houses
You can run inter-house competitions on water and power.
Every house gets a weekly card showing litres per bed and kWh per learner. You can give a small prize at the end of term to the house that used the least. Students start caring about lights left on because their house pays for it on the leaderboard.
For the board
You get a real consumption report at the end of every term.
We generate a one-page PDF showing how much water and power the school used, how that compares to last term, what was saved by the new rules, and what was caught early. The bursar does not have to assemble it by hand.
For the board