King’s Academy Ringmer have been working hard to utilise as many sustainability methods of Green Energy as possible in and around the school.

Wind Turbine & Solar Panels

Our wind turbine was installed in 2006 and together with our solar panels installed between 2014-18, we generate 20% of our energy on site and up to 100% in the summer.

• The Wind Turbine is 2.5kW which would provide around 25% of the energy of a single household.
• We have a total of 70kW of photovoltaic panels on the school roofs (30kW on the Hall, 30kW on the Clark Block and 10kW on the Stephen Green building).
•  70kW is enough to power around half a dozen houses-for context. Ringmer was the first school in the South East to have PV panels.

Biomass Boiler

We have a biomass boiler, which is capable of generating 70% of our heating. We get wood from locally coppiced wood (within 30 miles) which is chipped and air dried to around 35% moisture. It is then brought to the school in a container and burnt to provide 70% of our heat demand. In the winter we can burn a bin load a week which is 25 cubic metres or 7.5 tonnes. From each 25 cubic metre bin we get only a bucket full of ash, so it’s very efficient.

Steve Green Building

The Stephen Green building is heated by Ground Source Heat Pumps. The ground is always warmer than the air, and so we pump water through a grid of pipes under the field which takes the heat from the ground, uses the water to transport it, and then we use the pumps in the plant room to compress the heat, rather like a fridge in reverse. By doing this we reduce the amount of energy needed to heat the building by around 60%.

Electric Car Charging Point

At the front of the school is the electric car charging point with charging for 2 cars.  The What3Words location is broth.educates.fuse

The charger is a BP Pulse50, which is capable of charging most EV batteries to 80% within an hour.  

Recycling

We recycle 110 tonnes of material a year. We recycle everything from paper to lost property.  Waste has been reduced by 20%.

Low Impact Energy Lighting

Energy-efficient lights were installed in 2020 throughout the school building.  These are motion activated so that they only come on when someone walks through the corridors, dramatically reducing our energy consumption.

Rainwater Harvesting Tank

We have a Rainwater Harvesting tank on the school site.  This uses rainwater to flush the toilets rather than drinking water mains quality. A day's rain is enough to provide all the water used in a week.