Work improves school energy efficiency

Ysgol Pant Pastynog will see improved energy efficiency and long-term running costs reduced thanks to the completion of a project on site.

Denbighshire County Council’s Energy team has wrapped up work to improve the learning environment for pupils and teachers at the school whilst also reducing the building’s carbon emissions. The schools’ Sam committee, who offer a voice to all pupils at the school, wrote to the energy team suggesting energy saving measures they would like to see in their school and worked with the energy team to finalise plans.

The team has managed projects across Council buildings, including schools to improve building energy efficiency and reduce emissions a part of the Council’s drive to reduce its carbon footprint after declaring a Climate and Nature Emergency during 2019.

Supported by the Council’s Education and Children’s Services, the work saw an 8.1kw solar PV system installed on the roof of the school. The project is expected to save the site approximately £3200 per year in fuel bills and reduce the sites emissions by roughly 3400 kilogrammes of carbon each year.

These new PV panels will generate electricity to power the site, taking pressure off the local grid system and improving the reduction of carbon emissions on site. Each Kilowatt generated by the PV panels and used by the school will save around 22 pence.

Work at the school also included topping up loft insulation with 150mm additional insulation, insulating cavity wall sections with Evobead, installing LED, efficient lighting and adding a new building management system for improved control over energy use at the site.

Helen Vaughan-Evans, Head of Corporate Support Service: Performance, Digital & Assets, said: “The Council is committed to reducing our carbon emissions and energy usage across all our buildings. This supports our environmental priorities; ambitions that I’m delighted to see are shared by our County’s pupils. But also will see costs reduce in the long term for the school. I’m grateful to our staff with the support of the school staff and the pupils for allowing us to carry out this important work at Ysgol Pant Pastynog.”