Celebrate the energy-saving opportunity in education at the Suffolk Festival of Learning

SaveMoneyCutCarbon will be sharing energy-saving knowledge with the education sector tomorrow at the inaugural Suffolk Festival of Learning.

The team are on stand H4 in the exhibition hall at University Campus Suffolk in Ipswich so if you’re at the event, drop by and say hello. We’re keen to help schools, colleges and universities understand the great benefits of energy and water savings.

We’ll also be running a competition on the stand for one institution to win a £1,000 LED lighting retrofit in a classroom or other teaching space.

It’s a great privilege for us to be working with some of the most forward-looking leaders in the education sector and our work with schools up and down the country has delivered many thousands of pounds in savings.

What’s more, the schools have seen their carbon footprint shrink considerably and permanently while also ensuring a much better quality light for pupils and staff.

Interest-free loans

We are also able to manage the application process for Salix Finance, which has seen schools benefit from interest-free loans that are geared to pay for themselves through money saved on lighting bills.

As an example, our recent successes have delivered successful LED lighting projects for a school in Basingstoke that is saving £14,500 a year in lighting costs, with the Salix loan being covered by lower electricity bills.

We make it easy for any education institution to ease pressure on ever-tighter budgets with a range of energy and water saving solutions that repay investment quickly, then go on saving money year after year.

Institutions can reap rich rewards by investing in not only LED lighting but also eco-taps and tap aerators, low flush toilets, eco shower heads, smart lighting and heating controls and low-energy heating. Find out more.

No catch

As one client headteacher told us recently: “When I first heard that we could have all of our ancient, poor-quality, ineffective and inefficient lighting replaced with energy-saving bulbs and LEDs, effectively free of charge I was incredulous. It all sounded too good to be true and I wanted to know what the catch was.

“The truth is that there is no catch! SaveMoneyCutCarbon outlined clearly and precisely how the savings would be made and the lighting options for the school.

“The repayments on the interest-free capital loan we have been given to pay for the lighting refit will be paid by the savings in our electricity bills which, along with our carbon footprint, will be reduced by a massive 63%.”

Festival celebrations

We will be celebrating the best and most innovative ideas along with headteachers, business leaders and sector experts at the Festival of Learning as the future of education in Suffolk is discussed tomorrow.

Among the highlights will be Sir David Carter, the new National Schools Commissioner, and Baroness Sue Campbell, chair of the Youth Sports Trust.

As Geoff Barton, headteacher of the King Edward VI School in Bury St Edmunds, commented to the East Anglian Daily Times: “For too long Suffolk has been in need of a celebration of all the great work that really goes on in schools and colleges across the county.

“The Suffolk Festival of Learning will help to change that narrative, while bringing fantastic professional development and networking opportunities between business and education. The Festival will help to change that narrative, while bringing fantastic professional development and networking opportunities between business and education.”