Energy mini journey

A step-by-step guide to reducing energy use.

27%

of a school’s carbon footprint is from energy use

50%

of electricity is wasted out of hours - making switch-off habits a quick win

1. Get started
2. Gather information
3. Take action
4. Share your success

1. Get started

Reducing energy is central to climate action. Most greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide come from burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas for electricity, heating the transport.

Energy is often the second largest spend after staffing for most settings. Reducing energy not only helps the environment, but reduces your costs.

In short, tackling energy is one of the fastest and most effective ways to reduce climate impact and save money.

Benefits of reducing energy

Lower your running costs by reducing wasted energy
Improve your operational efficiency
Energy security - protect against unpredictable energy markets and price hikes
Reduce your operational costs and free up funds for teaching and learning
Lower your risk of relying on ageing, inefficient heating and lighting systems

Who to involve

You don't need a dedicated sustainability team to get started, and many settings won't have all these formal roles in place.

The goal is to start conversations with people who can move things forward.

Depending on your setting, it’s worth reaching out to colleagues, learners, or partners who can:

Share insight into building operations (like estates and site teams)
Oversee energy costs and contracts (like finance and procurement teams)
Drive behaviour change across your whole setting (like a sustainability working group)
Encourage daily energy-saving habits (all staff and students)
Help prioritise sustainability and allocate resources (like governors and senior leadership)
Access your lease, building contract, or maintenance agreement (like landlords, local authorities, or PFI facilities contractors)

Involving people across your whole setting doesn't just lighten your load, it creates a sustainable, whole-setting approach for success.

You don't have to assemble a full committee on day one - start with a quick chat to get your energy journey moving.

Tip: Integrate any energy updates into existing estates or finance meetings. Try to frame changes you want to make as ‘money saved’ or ‘risk mitigated’ - this can help secure buy-in faster!

Don’t have full control over your energy?

If your setting does not have direct control over your energy contracts or major infrastructure, you can still make a positive impact by engaging your landlord or PFI contractor.

If you can’t change the system, you can change how it’s used by:

Influencing behaviour change - turn off lights, close windows and manage thermostat habits
Understanding your data - even if you don’t pay bills directly, you’re entitled to see your energy data. Your data can highlight where energy is wasted, or which equipment you could switch off
Influencing decision-makers - use energy data findings to start a conversation with building owners to make improvements
Reviewing your managed service - make sure your service level agreements aren’t working against you (such as heating being left on during holidays)

Tip: If you are in a managed setting, look for actions tagged as ‘Low cost’ or ‘One off action’. These are things you might be able to start today.

Timescales

Every setting will move at its own pace depending on capacity. As a general guide:

First two terms: collect data, establish your working group, and implement core energy actions
Within one year: expect to see the initial impact of your quick wins, low-cost improvements and any behaviour changes
Beyond two years: larger infrastructure projects, procurement cycles, and deeper cultural shifts will take longer to embed

Behaviour change depends on how quickly staff, learners, and your wider community embrace new habits.

New to energy action?

Sign up to our free energy email series to receive bite-sized, actionable steps each day straight into your inbox. It gives you everything you need to:

learn why energy matters
understand the energy saving journey
identify energy hotspots
build a culture of good energy habits
switch to renewable energy

What’s next?

Now you understand why energy can be an important lever for climate action. The next step is to get a clear picture of how your own setting uses it.

Gathering energy data is the best way to spot quick wins, target your efforts, and see the direct impact of your changes.

See what other settings have done…

How United Learning’s Energy Saving Week drives lasting behaviour change

Now you understand why energy is important, find data for your setting.

Go to 2. Gather information

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