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Question from: County Councillor Karl Lewis Subject: Cost savings in Powys schools through utilising technology
Question:
With the recent announcement from Powys County Council that they are looking at all options to save on costs and that one way could be looking to teach children remotely at home for one day in every school week. Has the portfolio holder taken into account the lack of internet connectivity we have in many parts of Powys. Not to mention parents having to find child care for that particular day, but also child care cost would be impossible to meet for many households. Understandably this idea has not been welcomed by parents and I understand that this is just one of many ideas the coalition is currently looking at.
With ideas in mind could the portfolio holder or holders answer the following please:
1. Has the portfolio holder looked into zoning the heating systems in our schools into smaller zones than we currently have at the moment in school buildings throughout Powys, so we are not heating classrooms that are not being used at certain times of the day? 2. Every school in Powys has a LoRaWAN gateway installed. Currently LoRaWAN is used to monitor CO2 and humidity in classrooms which has been necessary granted, but it is a bit of a waste of the capability of LoRaWAN, especially as the majority of schools have their own dedicated gateway which are seriously underutilised . Has the portfolio holder looked at the LoRaWAN network as a way to save money by controlling the heating systems in Powys schools? 3. Has the portfolio holder looked at solar battery storge for schools? Also some electricity providers pay very attractive rates for solar battery systems to export their load onto the grid at peak times. Has the portfolio holder looked into this as a possible revenue stream for schools over the weekends and a way of cutting electricity cost during the school week? 4. Has the portfolio holder looked at installing air or ground source heat pumps alongside the current heating systems at school properties? Air source heat pumps work at a ratio of every 1 KW of electricity you put in, you get 3KW of heat out. Throughout the day the electricity input could be offset by solar battery storage.
Ysgol Llandinam would be an excellent school to pilot many of the technologies I have highlighted.
Minutes: Response by the Cabinet Member:
Many thanks for your email in respect of energy savings within schools. I asked the schools team to collate a response to your specific questions which I have provided below. I hope the response provides clarity on the current position within the service. The team have advised they will happily meet with you to discuss any of your queries further. Your questions are repeated for reference.
· All new schools are designed with the ability to set different temperatures for most occupied rooms (classrooms etc) most having underfloor heating. The majority of the existing school stock which are served with dated single pipe heating systems are more complex to modify, modification of these systems is expensive and very disruptive as most of the pipework would need to be removed and replaced to afford better heating control. A more cost-effective solution is to ensure that radiators are fitted with thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) where the room temp can be adjusted locally. Another problem associated with zoning and cutting heat to specific rooms is that it is very unresponsive, so it would take some time for the room temperature to change when needed.
· The LoRaWan gateway system is a one-way data transfer - we can gather information from the school site ( CO2 etc), but we are unable to change any settings or parameters remotely using this technology. All new schools and most of the older stock are now fitted with building management systems (BMS). The BMS system allows us to remotely view any information we have designed into the control strategy (room temps, boiler state, alarms, CO2 etc) but it also gives the ability to remotely adjust controls and parameters. A BMS system is a standard solution across most large buildings and have been used for many years. There is an ongoing programme to upgrade and install these systems across all PCC schools.
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