A high school saves 800 euros by turning off all its clocks

It is not the oldest of the Breton high schools, far from it. Built in 2005, the Anita Conti de Bruz high school can benefit from rather satisfactory insulation to face the winter. But faced with the soaring cost of energy, the school has still thought about the best ways to limit the explosion of its bill. Located very close to Rennes, it called on specialized technicians from the Brittany region to find cost-saving solutions. One of them turned out to be very easy to set up. For a few weeks, the school has turned off its electronic clocks. “We cut 21 clocks that were running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for a consumption of 11 watts each day,” explains Guillaume Talon. Amount of savings: “800 euros per year”, according to this agent of the region supervising the maintenance personnel.

The establishment, which welcomes more than 1,000 people every day, has also taken other measures to adapt to the inflation in the cost of electricity and gas. In the corridors, the timer has been changed and the lighting now switches off after three minutes, compared to five previously. The temperature will not exceed 19 degrees in the classrooms and 16 degrees in the corridors or the toilets.

15 to 20% savings targeted

To precisely monitor consumption, thermostatic heads were installed on each radiator and connected to software. “It’s better for the ecology to have a lower temperature and therefore consume less electricity and energy,” says Johanna, a second-year student. More people put on coats and keep their jackets on when they sit down, I put on an extra sweatshirt”.

Despite this sum of small savings, the costs should still soar with increases “by three on electricity and a little less on gas”, recalls Stéphane Perrin, vice-president in charge of finance for the region. Brittany. In 2021, the energy bill of the 115 Breton public high schools showed 14.5 million euros, including eight for heating. In 2022, the additional cost is estimated at… 28.5 million (25 million for electricity and 3.5 million for gas). Depending on the secondary schools, the region and its teams have set themselves the objective of achieving between 15% and 20% energy savings.

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