Dive Brief:
- The Cheshire Public Schools in Connecticut converted lights in six of its eight buildings to LED bulbs and connected them to sensors and cloud-based servers that control brightness and turn lights off automatically from afar, saving about $390,000 per year — or 84% of the district’s electricity budget.
- District Administration reports that so far, IoT technology in classrooms can control lighting, temperature, door locks, projectors, surveillance cameras, school bus trackers, and it can monitor parking lots, analyze air quality, take student attendance, and vibrate student devices or even chairs to get their attention in class.
- Experts estimate four times as many IoT devices will enter the education system by 2018, increasing the total to 35.2 million units, but security concerns may slow adoption and administrators have been frustrated, so far, by unconnected systems controlling separate devices instead of a unified dashboard.
Dive Insight:
Just as technology is leading to increases in efficiency among teachers and administrators on the instructional side of the education system, it is not surprising more schools are turning to new devices to achieve efficiencies in operations. Dollars saved in electricity can be redirected to other maintenance needs or help meet necessary cuts.
Some schools have looked to solar energy for similar savings. California has a particularly strong incentive now, allowing schools to transition just a portion of their energy to solar and realize significant savings on their energy bills, overall. Systems that track energy use and collection information can also be used for educational purposes with students.
