The Net Zero Accelerator

The Net Zero Accelerator (NZA) is a DfE founded project that looks to facilitate the rollout of decarbonisation initiatives across the education estate. Fifty schools are involved in the original programme, five of which are Oasis academies: OA Limeside, OA Lister Park, OA Nunsthorpe, OA Sholing and OA Skinner Street. The schools involved were chosen to be representative of the wider Education estate across England and therefore show how the decarbonisation of these schools can act as a roadmap for schools nationally as well as show how this is financially sustainable. Decarbonisation is a process to take buildings to net zero carbon, effectively removing the reliance on fossil fuels and running buildings in a sustainable way, not just through systems and fabric but behaviours too.

The NZA started in 2024 and is a fully funded programme, led by LocatEd and delivered through various partner organisations. Phase 1, a feasibility and planning study kicked off the programme and we’re now into Phase 2, the delivery of various interventions, suitable to our academies.

We’re really excited to be part of such a pioneering project in the sector which also helps support our very own Oasis environmental commitment of being Climate Considerate and target of achieving net zero. As the delivery of the programme ramps up, we wanted to share some more details about what has and will be happening as part of the NZA.

Basket 1 is all about making efficiencies – how can we reduce the demand of energy consumption quickly with minimal cost?

·         Behavioural change: workshops, assemblies and other activities will be run with students to create climate ambassadors and identify how we can all take action through our behaviours to reduce energy consumption

·         Optimise controls: looking at data and building systems to change schedules and settings, for example better lighting controls and stopping heating from being on out of school hours

·         Decarbonisation Plan: detailed surveys and building modelling to understand and set out a tailored approach as to how to get the building to net zero carbon in operation and how much this will cost

·         Energy Procurement: analysing our data consumption and costs and proposing the most cost effective and secure way of buying low carbon energy long term

·         Data collection: collating detailed academy data to ensure the decarbonisation plan is as tailored as possible and bringing in external data sources like climate data to also inform this

Basket 1 is due to be completed by end of March 2025.

Basket 2 looks at interventions which are still quick to implement but have a longer payback and involve more structural or capital works.

·         Solar PV: solar panels for suitable roof spaces to reduce reliance on grid electricity and also give real-life opportunities for learning about clean energy to students

·         EV chargers: explore whether there is demand for electric vehicle charging at academy car parks for staff and the community

·         Battery storage: batteries to store solar-generated electricity and further reduce reliance on the grid

·         LED lighting: switch any remaining non LED lights to energy efficient LED bulbs

·         Draft proofing: identify where more insulation or other measures can be installed to prevent heat escaping from buildings unintentionally from gaps and being wasted

Some Basket 2 interventions are being looked into currently but most will happen from April 2025 onwards.

Finally, Basket 3 goes even further with upgrades to structures and systems as well as starting to remove fossil fuel power replacing with renewable electricity.

·         Ventilation: ensuring that building are well ventilated throughout to improve comfortable temperatures and better indoor air quality for staff and students, particularly in hotter periods

·         Building fabric upgrades: replacing energy inefficient windows and doors, improve pipe, wall, floor and roof insulation to reduce wasted energy from buildings, both heat in the winter and keeping cool in summer

·         Heat decarbonisation/BEMS: replacing gas boilers with low carbon systems for example electric heat pumps and coupling this with a smart, effective way of managing and controlling this to the academy needs (Building Energy Management System – BEMS)

·         Electrify catering equipment: removing gas powered kitchen equipment and replacing with electric to eliminate fossil fuels

Basket 3 implementation will depend on future funding of the project by the DfE.

Behavioural change programme

The behavioural change programme – Net Zero Needs Everyday Heroes – has kicked off at OA Skinner Street where where Alma-nac (one of the project organisations) held an interactive assembly explaining what pupils can do to reduce global warming followed by workshops with the Year 5 classes. Pupils became energy loss detectives at the school by taking images of heat loss with a thermal imaging camera, temperature readings with thermometers and measuring light levels. They even took part in a ‘climate board meeting’ with staff to experience what it’s like in real-world decision making processes.

Pupils and staff were empowered and educated on how to make simple behaviour changes to save energy in their school. Skinner Street will now have regular check-in’s to track how their behaviour changes are impacting their gas and electricity consumption and track the positive changes. Energy Sparks will help them do this along the way.

Dates are now booked in for Limeside, Lister Park and Nunsthorpe for the coming months to run the initial sessions with students and staff. This programme will be ongoing throughout the course of the project to offer support on the individual action plans and carry out further sessions on green careers to help raise awareness about the types of skills and jobs involved in getting us as a nation to net zero.

Interventions

Whilst we await for the outcomes of our decarbonisation plans, we’ve already heard that the project would like to go ahead with some interventions in the meantime. Installing a smart building management system at Skinner Street will be planned for after April which will give the Facilities team much better control over the heating and other parts of the building system to enable them to run it as energy efficiently as possible throughout the year. And more exciting news is that Nunsthorpe are due to receive a solar system on their roof by (all going to plan) the end of March 2025! 280 panels are due to be installed which will provide around 11% of the electricity for the school reducing their reliance on the grid and of course their electricity costs. With the planned behavioural changes and other interventions, over time this will reduce electricity demand and mean that the panels will cover more of the electricity they require.