Electricity baseload is the electricity needed to provide power to appliances that keep running at all times. It can be measured by looking at the power a school consumes out of hours when the school is unoccupied. This is one of the most useful benchmarks for understanding a school's electricity use. All schools should aim to reduce their electricity baseload per pupil to that of the best schools. Schools perform roughly the same function so should be able to achieve similar electricity consumption particularly out of hours.

Reducing a school's baseload is one of the fastest ways to reduce energy consumption, and save money and carbon dioxide. For each 1 kW reduction in baseload, the school will reduce its overall electricity consumption by 1 kWh for every hour of the year, so over the whole year the reduction will be 8,760 kWh. If a school is paying 15p per kWh, this reduction could save £1,314 per year, if they are paying 30p per kWh that saving would be £2,628. The school would also reduce its carbon footprint by about 1,700 kg CO2. 

This programme will help pupils and staff work together to reduce the school's baseload. 

Don't forget to record your activities to earn points!