As part of working on our ResourceSmart Energy module, the Cornish College Sustainability Action Team has decided to complete an energy audit for the school.

This is to understand where the school uses energy and how we can be more sustainable in terms of energy usage.

As well as trying to make Cornish a more sustainable school, completing an energy audit will allow Cornish to gain an additional sustainability star for the school. Once the energy audit is completed Cornish will receive an additional sustainability star from resource smart, a sustainability program run by Sustainability Victoria.

Another benefit of completing this energy audit is to improve the wellbeing and surroundings of students at Cornish.

According to ​​Dr. Salum S. Mohamed, having a nice working environment for students will increase the productivity of the students.

In conclusion completing an energy audit for Cornish college will have many long lasting benefits for the Cornish community.

By Lukas Banks and Luka Petersen

Part 2

When the Cornish Climate Action team completed an energy audit, we noticed that Cornish has a problem with energy usage and remembering to turn lights and heaters off when we leave a room.

We also noticed that heaters were set too high and air conditioners were set too low. This means that we are constantly using too much energy to heat and cool our rooms.

In order to fix this, the Sustainability Action Team worked together to create signs. The team has been placing this signage around the entire school. In doing this, we’re hoping it makes people more aware of their electricity usage and sustainability. Every time people leave a room, they will see a sign reminding them to turn the lights off. Every time they switch on the heating or cooling, they will see a sign reminding them of the correct temperature settings. Signs were also placed in the staff room to remind teachers to turn off their kitchen appliances.

This is a necessary step to reduce energy usage and remind people to do the right thing.

Lukas Banks

Part 3 – Summary of our Journey

Our Energy journey, began with us conducting an energy audit. From here, we could see where we were up to and what changes we needed to make to be more sustainable with our energy use. We noticed that we needed signage on our light switches and heaters so, as a team, we made some really cool signs to put around the school. We asked each class or form group to assign an energy monitor to make sure the heaters and lights are turned off when we leave the classrooms and at the end of the day. The solar monitor in our corridor lets us see how much energy our solar panels are making. We love to notice how we are making our own renewable energy. Mrs Parrington put a notice in the General Notices reminding our community about how to be more sustainable with our energy usage including heating ourselves and our homes. We are much more mindful now of our energy use and so are our teachers. Cornish College is committed to Making a Difference and we are really thinking about how we can make a difference with how we use energy.