Note: This activity needs to be carried out when your school heating is running, so from approximately late October to April. 

Introduction

Monitoring temperatures around your school can tell you how well your school heating system is controlled. The best temperatures for schools are:

Often classroom temperatures are higher than heating system set temperatures. This discrepancy may suggest that your school's thermostats/temperature sensors for the heating system are in a particularly hard to heat part of the school, such as a draughty corridor or school hall. 

On average 50% of school's gas consumption is out of school hours in the evenings or early mornings, weekends and school holidays. This out of hours use is generally due to:

Reducing out of hours gas consumption is an easy way for schools to reduce their energy bill for little or no cost.

Aim of the investigation

To find out how classroom temperatures vary across a 7 day period to identify whether energy is being wasted in your school. 

Equipment list

A low cost temperature data logger may be helpful (eg https://www.loggershop.co.uk/product/utrix-16-usb-pdf-multiple-use-temperature-data-logger/). 
If your school does not have a temperature data logger, you could adapt this experiment to use a normal thermometer and take readings at the beginning, and end of the school day and at lunchtime. This will give you less information across the school day, and no information for out of hours, but will still be worth carrying out.

A PC or Laptop computer to analyse the data generated.

Can you write a method that will make your measurements accurate and fair? Think about where to position your temperature logger in the classroom. To get a good overview of the temperature in the classroom, the temperature logger should be away from any radiators, spotlights, air conditioning ducts, windows and poorly insulated outside walls. It should not at any time be illuminated by direct sunlight. It should be out of easy reach from fellow pupils, and kept in the same position during your monitoring exercise. What are your control variables for this experiment? Ideally radiator thermostats should be kept in the same position during your monitoring exercise, and not used as a heating on/off switch for individual classrooms. 

Data Analysis

Can you use your data to calculate the following:

Can you compare your temperature measurements with the Energy Sparks charts showing gas consumption? The gas consumption charts should give a clear indication of when the heating comes on and off in your school. How is this correlated with classroom temperature? 

Conclusion

What do your results tell you about classroom temperatures and energy use at your school? Give your evidence for your conclusion. How can you use the information you have learnt to save energy? 

Next Steps to save energy

Evaluation

Evaluate how you carried out the investigation and what could be improved.

Extensions