Wood burning boilers at Bowbridge School, Notts

The Zero Carbon Task Force report made some significant and important recommendations within their report that offer a major opportunity to reduce carbon demands. In terms of the 4 tests that we outlined – how well have they done and did they go far enough? (it’s a long post but we felt it important to do this issue justice)

Our Head of Research Jenny Thomas explains more…1.  Spending

Whilst spending is encouraged by the Zero Carbon Taskforce, and a number of the recommendations call for additional funding, this investment must be sustainable for real, long-term benefits to be realised. For example, additional funding for Zero Carbon pilot projects will only be effective if the designs developed and operation of the buildings are a) possible for other schools to achieve without the additional funding offered to the pilot schools and b) evaluated effectively so that the learning can be used to inform future design and operation.

To effect long-term changes, spending needs to be focused upon initiatives and recommendations that will make a real difference for a significant number of schools across their lifetime. It cannot be a quick fix for a select group of schools. A further consideration is the investment in sensible solutions and decision making based upon specific situations. A good example of this is given by Richard Hopkinson commenting on our site. He suggests that there would be benefit in taking a centralised approach to off-site renewables and carbon free technologies. Whilst this is highlighted within the Zero Carbon Task Force report, it is true that they could have made a stronger case and recommended significant investment in this area as a long-term, sustainable approach.

2. Behaviour

The report and recommendations demonstrate clear understanding of the importance of behaviour in achieving carbon reductions. Learning from what existing schools are doing to reduce carbon demands and how this relates to their school environment would have a positive impact. The report and recommendations do support the need to encourage positive behaviours and the relationship with design. This can be achieved but needs strong leadership, as indicated in the report, and a joined-up approach to research where both the design and behaviour are considered together rather than being addressed in isolation.

3.  Education and Training

The Zero Carbon Taskforce recognise the benefits of training and education to bring about carbon reductions. They also recognise that this education is required for schools, school leaders, local authorities, designers and suppliers. This recognition, and the associated recommendations, are extremely positive and, if implemented effectively, will represent an investment in sustainable methods for reducing carbon.

4.       ICT and Technology

The need to provide ICT and technology which has been designed to reduce carbon demands, as well as education and monitoring relating to more efficient use of technology, is incorporated within the report. The recommendations made in the report have the potential to have a very positive, significant impact but require significant commitment from government at both a national and local level, other national groups, suppliers and schools themselves.

Next steps

Whilst the four tests posed have been largely met by the Zero Carbon Taskforce, there are four key things (well it would be four wouldn’t it!) which must now happen to ensure that their extensive work is implemented.

1.       Learning from Good Practice

Good work is already taking place in a significant number of schools in terms of both design and behaviour to reduce carbon demands. Pilot projects have previously been invested in and developed which are environmentally sustainable and there are successful initiatives promoting sustainable behaviours in schools. However, we are not always capturing the learning from these examples effectively and using the knowledge to inform practice in the future. The significant opportunities for learning from previous projects, and those recommended within the Zero Carbon Task Force, must not be missed.

2.       Sustainable Investment

The money invested in carbon reduction must be in areas where it can have the most significant long-term impact. Initiatives must incorporate effective evaluation so that learning can be applied to future projects, and education so that the reasons for changes in design or behaviour are understood.

3.       Commitment

Within the report there are a number of recommendations made that require the commitment of government at a national and local level, national organisations, schools, designers and suppliers. To ensure that the recommendations are implemented effectively and have a positive impact there has to be commitment of key people. Notably at a national level this includes PfS, DCSF, BECTA, CABE and National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services.

4.       Joined-up Approach

There needs to be a joined-up approach in terms of both thinking and funding. For example, the report states that it is not possible to achieve zero carbon through on-site low carbon measures for an individual school. There is potential for schools within a local authority to work together and for funding to be dealt with more effectively to achieve carbon reductions. This joined-up thinking should not stop with schools and there should be a sensible approach to carbon reduction across all public buildings by a local authority to have the most positive and significant impact.

We’ve covered this report in quite a lot of detail – but lets face it, the prize is worth it. We await comments from interested parties…

Related posts:

1. 4 tests for the zero carbon taskforce
2. Zero-carbon schools – early thoughts

I’ve been looking through the Zero Carbon Taskforce’s final report that was published earlier today.

Bowbridge Primary School in Notts

My first reaction is the say that they’ve done a difficult job marrying up government rhetoric with the realities of the front line – and Robin and his team really deserve some credit for that.

They also appear to have got their disappointment in first!  They are certainly a good deal more realistic with their targets. The idea of creating prototypes is a good idea in principle, but we’re hardly at Year Zero in this respect, are we? There are already lots of great schools out there.

There are some great examples of schools that have made serious inroads into this issue. We’ve got a bank of more than 170 case studies that we picked up doing our awards in 2009. When I spoke to the Headteacher of the Bowbridge Primary School in Notts (our 2009 winner of the Greening the School Community award), he said that ‘green leadership’ was really key to his success.

Bowbridge are just the tip of the iceberg – there is tons of uncharted human experience in those 170+ buildings and Bowbridge  was only one of a significant number of schools that deserve more attention than they are getting at the moment.

All of that said, we think that the Task Force’s analysis (PDF) of the ‘carbon journey’ is a really useful tool for local authorities and schools. Partnerships for Schools have also been tasked to deliver the new ‘Smart Metering’ initiative to help pupils become more aware of energy use issues. This is probably the most understated opportunity here. Greening schools is not just about reducing the footprint of the individual buildings – the educational opportunity is the real prize here.

You can have a look at a Flickr slideshow about Bowbridge here. Remember, all of these pictures are published on a Creative Commons licence which means that you can use them in your publications as long as you say where you got them from – i.e. Pictures courtesy of The Centre for School Design and Bowbridge Primary School.

Related posts:

1. 4 tests for the zero carbon taskforce

The Zero Carbon taskforce for schools is due to report its findings tomorrow. We know that the recommendations from March 2009′s interim report will be broadly accepted but surely there’s no room for ‘greenwash’ or unfunded recommendations.

In the context of the Copenhagen Summit which profoundly missed its opportunity to make a difference – we have 4 tests to apply to tomorrow’s report from the BCSE’s Head of Research Jenny Thomas:

• Spending – whilst it is understandable that spending may be limited, this should not prevent zero carbon from remaining a target. The money available needs to be invested sustainably to ensure continued benefit and long term change. Eco-bling and ineffective, expensive bolt-on technology which will not offer savings long-term in operation are not sustainable solutions. Spending should be focused on training and education so that designers and builders get the fundamentals of the design right and users know how their building works and is operated in a way that minimises energy use.

• Behaviour – the relationship between the design and how people use the building is key. Good intentions and understanding of carbon reduction strategies by schools is ineffective if the building does not support these positive behaviours. Likewise, a building with design features that allow for the minimisation of carbon emissions is ineffective if users don’t know how to use it correctly or have no inclination to do so. We welcome the suggestions from the Zero Carbon Task Force that recognises the importance of linking behaviour and design, and getting the basics right, and believe this will have a very positive and sustainable impact if achieved.

• Education and Training – we applaud the Zero Carbon Task Force’s recommendations that there should be investment in training and awareness raising as this is a sustainable approach to achieving the zero carbon target. However, the provision of energy monitors and increased understanding of the use of energy within the school will only be useful with significant training about how the school can use this information and change their practices to reduce their carbon emissions. Simple awareness is not enough. Greater input into the recommendations from school senior management teams, teachers and students would help in the clearer development of effective training. Currently the membership of the Zero Carbon Task Force is very design focused and light on educators
  

• ICT and technology – as one of the major barriers to the achievement of zero carbon targets, particularly in secondary schools, the inclusion of recommendations relating to ICT is positive. However, the emphasis is largely on the behaviour of users. Whilst this is essential, we would support the need for greater work with ICT providers to develop their technology further to minimise carbon emissions. They need to work with users to achieve this to ensure that ICT systems are easy to use and effective in terms of both education and reducing carbon emissions.

We’ll report back later this week with our assessment

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