Many schools and other institutions have a switch installed in restrooms and other places that close the lights when there is no activity or movement going on for a certain amount of time. This light switch will turn the lights on when someone enter the room. In this case you know the functions of the switch and you need to know how well they work, how expensive they are, who will install them, do they violate any building code how to get permission to install the switch and what schools have this feature, how much power can be saved, how safe is the system,and what success they have had.

You can take all or probably some of the questions above and apply it to each of your ideas.

You should also think about upgrading the schools heating system, posting a sign to close classroom lights when not in use, and changing light bulbs to make them more energy efficient.

Good luck with this worthwhile project.

Our school has done some really simple stuff like allocate a kid from each class to be the energy monitor and turn of lights, fans, heaters, computers as they go out at recess and lunch. We don’t light the corridors, which is a bit weird in spots but sky lights are a good thing? Maybe open a window or door instead of using fans? And bring extra jumpers in winter rather than put on heaters. Turn lights out at the end of the day and make sure that the cleaners are up with that too. Simple but effective, have fun with your assignment.

Install more energy efficient appliances.

Reduce the size of needed facilities (like have 3 different ‘shifts’ students coming in, there by eliminating the need to power unused facilities [2 schools of that size] and excess equipment)…3 shifts could be like 8am-3pm, 4pm-11pm, 12am-7am. It would also reduce the number of school buses required. In addition, if the shifts were based on the neighborhood the student lived in, the fewer buses wouldn’t have to travel any more than they currently do.