Learning lessons about energy
From Leader of the Council, Councillor Ken Meeson on 30 May 2012
School children across the borough have been learning more about the importance of saving energy thanks to new technology that automatically reads gas and electricity meters.
As part of the work that Solihull Council is carrying out to reduce its carbon emissions, the Council is now at the forefront of using innovative Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) equipment on the gas and electricity meters in all schools and other Council buildings.
The technology allows the schools to see their energy consumption at the click of a button and create ‘real time’ electronic reports about how much energy the site is using, including a graph which shows the times that consumption goes up and down.
The Council has also worked with the schools to develop lesson plans to show the children how to access and interpret the data and encourage them to think about where energy might be wasted and ways that it could be prevented.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Ken Meeson said: “More than half of the Council’s carbon emissions come from schools and the Automatic Meter Readings are a very good source of data to help us cut down our emissions and bills. But we wanted to take it one step further and use the technology to change behaviour too. By getting children involved we can spread energy awareness even further and encourage them to be champions for saving energy at school as well as at home.”
Information about saving energy and money at home is available on the Council’s website: www.solihull.gov.uk/housing/energyefficiency.htm
For enquiries from members of the press and media only: 0121 704 8373
Email: juharrison@solihull.gov.uk