Benefits of a More Sustainable Learning Environment in Schools and Universities

In recent years, we have partnered with schools and universities to transform their physical environments into healthier, more sustainable, safer places for learning and work. This blog shares our conclusions and recommendations for adopting IoT and networking technologies to create a more sustainable learning environment in educational institutions.

The need for sustainability in schools and universities

Schools and universities worldwide occupy vast areas with significant environmental footprints, impacting energy, carbon, farmland, forests, soil, and freshwater resources. With an increasing focus on climate and environmental challenges, these issues often influence student concerns and decisions, even before they enter the classroom or choose an institution. Our case studies reveal that a well-defined sustainability strategy in schools and universities not only streamlines cost-efficient operations but also enhances the institution’s brand perception, especially when students and families are deciding where to study.

Additionally, incorporating sustainability into the curriculum by utilizing school or campus data on CO2 emissions, energy savings, and air quality components has proven to enrich the curriculum in classes like mathematics, chemistry, or sociology by providing real-world examples that the students can study. More broadly, a sustainability strategy transforms a school or campus into a cultural hub within its neighborhood, empowering the local community to engage in discussions about sustainable behavior changes and the planet’s future.

Experiences of more sustainable learning environments

One notable example is the Wrexham County Borough Council in Wales, UK, where schools implemented Cisco’s digital technology to protect the well-being of students and staff while achieving cost efficiencies.

Other compelling examples of technology adoption to create more sustainable learning environments come from vocational areas such as construction, cosmetology, catering, and automotive. These areas face unique challenges in protecting the well-being of students and staff, particularly regarding air quality, noise control, temperature, and ventilation. For instance, at The Sabden Multi Academy Trust in the UK, Cisco IoT sensors connected to the network detect sawdust in carpentry, fumes in motor mechanics, or chemicals in hair salons, crucial for safeguarding the well-being of students and staff.

Confirming the impact of the digital infrastructure to foster sustainability

By integrating a range of IoT sensors throughout the premises into the digital infrastructure for environmental monitoring and control, IT and Facilities teams can extract valuable data and make informed decisions. This allows them to reduce energy bills by moving away from the “always on” state, minimizing unnecessary overnight power usage, measuring CO2 emissions, and ensuring air quality and temperature are conducive to learning. Additionally, they can assess room occupancy and space utilization to optimize them effectively.

In today’s data-driven world, where proving cause-effect relationships is essential, setting up the digital infrastructure with sustainability in mind and creating centralized visibility of the data captured from connected IoT sensors for environmental monitoring enables educational institutions to justify the necessary investments to support their sustainability strategies and meet ambitious carbon reduction commitments. The dashboard below from Wrexham Schools, with data collected and analyzed from the digital infrastructure, is a good example:

References and incentives from governments and non-government organizations (NGOs)

Governments and NGOs are committed to providing incentives and guidance for educational institutions to achieve a Net Zero economy. There are important guidelines and valuable resources for schools and universities aiming to enhance their environmental impact, such as UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development, the European Commission’s Education for Climate Coalition, and the UK Government’s vision and policy for carbon net-zero in education.

A recent survey by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the UK reveals that higher education institutions consider sustainability a top priority, with 45% of respondents already having net zero targets in place for 2035 or earlier.

Practical examples of use cases for sustainability in Education

The connected IoT platform provides a constant stream of data about environmental conditions for real-time analytics and can be applied to practical use cases as below:

• Energy Consumption Sensors for real-time data analytics, to energy bills and monitor CO2 emissions.
• Air Quality Sensors for capturing and analyzing data about sawdust, fumes, lingering chemicals, and pollutants to ensure a healthy environment.
• Temperature Sensors to inform when to activate automated systems, such as ventilating and air filtration systems and air conditioning, leading to a safer environment and significant cost efficiencies.
• Noise Control Sensors for data analytics to address acoustic issues in vocational learning areas
• Cameras, Heatmapping and Alarm systems providing insights into space occupancy and utilization, mapping, wayfinding, and even student behavior analysis for prompt issue resolution.

Holistic view to foster sustainability

Sustainability in education institutions require an integrated strategy from Educators, IT and Facility Leaders, to enact practical measures for environmental monitoring, inform curricula, safeguard health, and to advance sustainability targets.

At the heart of this change is a reliable, secure, and connected digital infrastructure. The adoption of Cisco technologies and certified ecosystem partners has proven to help schools and universities with secure and real-time data for insights into environmental conditions, space utilization, and facilities services to create smarter, more sustainable, student-centric learning environments. These efforts offer tangible benefits for operational enhancements and brand reputation, ultimately helping to protect our planet’s future.

To learn more about the use cases and architectures that are making a difference for Education, explore the

Portfolio Explorer for Education

Share: