The pandemic has altered the way schools are run drastically, with many still carrying out teaching and learning remotely. Even though many schools haven’t been offering school dinners in the usual way, some have stayed open to help communities with meal distribution, keeping equipment ticking over and providing a vital service in times of need.

Many schools are looking to become as efficient as possible, by evaluating areas they can save money. As every school kitchen requires a ventilation system, it only makes sense to make them as efficient as possible. In this time where learning is being done at home for many, we believe schools should be preparing for their students to return, but making a conscious effort to think about the long term.

You’ve probably heard us talk a lot about our 2050 Net Carbon Goals, and exactly how reaching them will impact the environment. Cheetah has already been helping schools across the UK achieve their sustainability goals and we want to help as many schools as we can to reach them before 2050!

How energy efficient is your school?

The energy used for catering facilities amounts to around 10 percent of a school’s energy costs. (Source: Education Business UK). By enhancing the energy efficiency of school catering equipment, this can be instrumental to your energy saving efforts, reducing your carbon footprint and saving money where it matters most.

A large secondary school, for example, will use their catering facilities for a minimum of 10 hours of cooking per week, but kitchen equipment could be on from start to finish each day. This means hours of wasted energy when no cooking is happening, and the unnecessary spending of money. Without the right equipment, this means hours of inefficiency – but there is a solution.

How can Cheetah help your school kitchen?

Relieving some financial pressure could be a lifesaver for many schools, and our Cheetah system does exactly that, as well as saving the energy you’re actually wasting. No matter how old or new your kitchen is, Cheetah is a Demand Control Kitchen Ventilation (DCKV) system which can control ventilation fan speeds to match the cooking demands of your school kitchen, optimising energy use and getting you well on your way to reaching those Net Carbon Goals.

With Cheetah operating in normal mode, the system’s sensors control the fans. The fans are set to a minimum speed by default but demand based extraction automatically increases in the event of smoke, high temperatures in ducts, low air flow in ducts and high levels of carbon dioxide in the kitchen.

This ensures your school kitchen runs as safely and efficiently as it needs to, and we’ve already saved the education sector thousands of kW in energy!

Read our case studies on how we help educational establishments;

– How we helped Warwick University save 122 tonnes carbon and £21k per annum.
– How we helped Reading University save an average daily energy saving of 97.79 kWh per day from the fans at one site.

Speak to Quintex about energy efficiency in schools

Our Cheetah system can help your school exceed your net carbon goals with remote monitoring and up to 80% energy savings. If we can play a part in reducing your carbon footprint and saving money on those growing energy bills, get in touch with the Quintex team today:

0118 9739310

Many schools today, whether they be private or mainstream, are taking much more responsibility for their energy efficiency. Many are proactive in searching for new ways to do their bit for the environment and to lower costs, and this way of working has had an influential effect on many other schools across the country.

Children in schools are among the many that are being educated more about the impact of climate change and are expanding the way these issues are addressed in the classroom, covering topics such as global warming and air pollution. As well as this, staff are also actively searching for new ways to do their bit and take those first steps to becoming a more energy efficient school.

That’s where Quintex comes in.

Here at Quintex, we’ve carefully developed our solutions with schools, caterers, retailers and the hospitality industry in mind to not only provide exceptional new energy saving technologies, but to also ensure these solutions deliver when it comes to saving energy.

How can schools benefit from our solutions?

The energy used in school and university catering facilities amounts to around 10 percent of their overall energy costs. By taking the necessary steps to enhance equipment and to invest in new technologies, the energy savings could soar to up to 50%. Quintex have developed a solution to not only work towards these savings, but one that can help private schools to monitor their energy usage in their kitchens and provide a comfortable and safe environment for school catering staff.

Our Demand Control Kitchen Ventilation System (DCKV), Cheetah works to save energy by controlling the extract and air supply fans in the kitchen. Cheetah’s energy monitoring unit can meter energy usage, showing private schools exactly how much they’re using in their catering environment, and taking the relevant steps to reduce energy consumption when needed. We can monitor key system KPI’s such as fan speeds, temperature and air flows remotely for even more convenience.

As well as energy efficiency, Cheetah also works to reduce noise pollution and provides better working temperatures for school staff. The temperature in the extract ducts is also measured continuously. If high temperatures are detected, action is taken to alert the operators of a possible fire condition. Safety is one of our main priorities.

Private school goes 100% renewable

Presbyterian Ladies’ College (PLC), Melbourne is a private school which has successfully taken the steps to become 100% renewable and energy efficient. As well as educating their students about sustainability, principals of the school have also done their part to ensure the facilities in which their students are being educated are environmentally friendly and promote sustainability to the next generation.

Within the last year, the school has gone even further, now sourcing 130% of its electricity needs from renewable energy. You can read more about their impressive achievement in this article.

Be like PLC – reach your energy saving goals with Quintex!

We’ve already helped so many schools take the first step towards an energy efficient future, and we’d love to take this journey with you too. If you’re a school looking for new and exciting ways to do your part for the environment and to save money in the process, speak to Quintex today about our energy saving solutions.

Read our case study on how we helped Warwick University Reduced save 122 tonnes carbon and £21k per annum.

Call us on 0118 973 9310 or email sales@quintex.co.uk to speak to a member of our friendly team.

Being an energy efficient school may sound like a lot of hard work. If you’re new to the energy saving sphere, making the right changes can seem like a daunting process, one that takes time, money and effort in order to see any result. However, when looking at the facts, this couldn’t be further from the truth. We’re here to help you well on your way to meeting your energy saving goals!

To get you in the right mindset, we discuss some of the misconceptions school staff may have about energy saving. As well as this, we’ll get you thinking about some positive changes you can make to your own school to be more energy efficient and save money in the process.

New schools are automatically more energy efficient

Not necessarily. Unless a school is built with environmental sustainability in mind, they’re often not going to be kitted out with the technologies needed to make a significant difference to their carbon footprint. Well-designed schools will more than likely hold some energy efficient equipment and follow better processes, but without taking the right actions, energy and money savings will probably not be that great.

With Quintex, we can install our advanced energy saving solutions into both new builds and existing school kitchens, bringing us nicely onto our next point…

Improving the energy efficiency of an existing building requires a lot of work and investment

If your school is an older building, that doesn’t mean you can’t create an energy efficient space. Some jobs will take time and work, but by taking the right steps in your school kitchen for example, you’ll be surprised at just how effective it can be.

With our Cheetah solution, we can help you save energy by controlling the extract and air supply fans in line with demand in your school kitchen. Energy savings of up to 80% are typically achieved, whether you have a brand new kitchen or an existing one. Our process is simple.

Monitoring energy usage isn’t necessary

It isn’t necessary, but wouldn’t you want to know how much you’re saving from your energy saving efforts and to make sure those efforts are working? Here at Quintex, we can track and monitor energy usage in your school’s kitchen. The data is downloaded remotely and presented to you when you need it or in a report. This verifies the savings from Cheetah and identifies where further optimisation could enhance performance.

It’s difficult to find the right help to save energy in a school

With Quintex, you’re in the best hands – with our energy saving solutions, we can advise on how to save money in your school kitchen as well as keep you updated regularly with your kitchen’s performance. We’re easy to deal with and we’ll keep you involved each step of the way.

Choose Quintex for effective energy saving solutions for your school kitchen

Here at Quintex, we provide innovative solutions designed to enable energy users to meet their environmental targets, improve profitability and add value. We provide energy saving systems, energy surveys and audits, monitoring and measurement capabilities for educational institutions across the UK.

For more information and advice on how we can help your school kitchen, give the team a call today on 0118 973 9310 or email sales@quintex.co.uk.

It’s true. Everyone has their own part to play in reducing carbon emissions and doing what they can to protect the planet. Even schools, colleges and universities are tackling the challenge head on and spreading a positive message to future generations in order to reach their own 2050 net carbon goals.

Universities are gearing up their students for a life of sustainability. Getting students involved in these processes not only helps the environment further, but also encourages them to grow with this mindset, and continue with it for a lifetime.

We understand exactly how to save energy and carbon in the kitchen, so we thought we would share how universities across the world are taking other steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

 

Here are some of our favourites!

The University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is big on sustainability, and has many processes in place to not only make the lives of students easier, but to fully help the environment too.

From Hopper Buses and car sharing to reusing and recycling items like bottles and batteries, their efforts have made a huge difference over the last few years. In 2019/20 compared to 2018/19, there was a 3% reduction in energy consumption and overall energy costs were reduced by 9%. That’s pretty good going!

The University has also received a Green Flag award, indicating that their landscaping and grounds are well-maintained, well-managed and an environmentally sustainable green space.

The University of Oxford

This University has hundreds of buildings and thousands of staff and students. It goes without saying that they have a significant part to play in reducing carbon emissions and waste. They have a range of incentives for sustainable travel, support and share sustainable food practices and even purchase 100% of their electricity from wind power. Impressive!

What we really liked about this University was its attitude towards reusing and recycling. They use WARPit (Waste Action Reuse Portal) where a department or college can post or claim otherwise unwanted items from across the University, meaning very little (if anything) goes to waste.

University of Massachusetts

Going international now – this University was rated a STARS Gold University for the fifth consecutive time in 2020 by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, so it’s clear they’re doing something right!

They’ve cut greenhouse gases by 27%, they’re a founding community partner of the ValleyBike Share Program providing their community with electric-assist bike sharing, and have a robust recycling program that includes composting 1,500 tons of food waste each year.

Stanford University

Stanford University’s goal is to become 80% carbon free by 2025. It currently gets 65% of its electricity from renewable sources, the majority of which comes from the Stanford Solar Generating Station. When the second Generating Station comes online this year, this number will increase to 100%.

The campus offers opportunities to test and evaluate new solutions as the university works to become zero-waste, defined as 90% diversion or higher, by 2030. With all these goals in place, it’s clear that this University means business when it comes to their sustainability – and we applaud their efforts!

How can Quintex help universities to save money and energy, and reduce their carbon footprint?

We’ve already been helping schools, colleges and universities to reduce their carbon footprint and be more aware of their energy usage through our Cheetah system, and have helped universities across the UK save thousands in kW and CO2.

Take a look at our case study for Warwick University, one of Britain’s leading universities. The University has installed Cheetah Energy Controls into three kitchens across the campus, giving a total saving per annum of over £21,000 and a 65% energy reduction!

 

 

With remote monitoring and up to 80% energy savings, our Cheetah system can help your university exceed your net carbon goals and work to a brighter future. If we can play a part in reducing your carbon footprint and saving money on those growing energy bills, get in touch with the Quintex team today: 0118 973 9310