Sunskool
Overview
Storm Sustainability Ltd. is a highly experienced contracting, design, and installation company focused on delivering innovative and sustainable water, solar, and resource monitoring solutions. Working with its partners in industry and government, the company is committed to promoting awareness about responsible resource management and conservation. Storm Sustainability’s growing team of experts and wealth of knowledge helps meet customers’ needs while protecting the environment.
Challenge
Storm Sustainability helps customers take advantage of the incentives available for renewable energy and conservation projects. For example, the company began assisting schools with water saving initiatives about four years ago, and today also serves educators and school districts that are taking advantage of the National Solar for Schools Program (NSSP). The program offers grants of up to $50,000, which help fund the initial deployment. While helping customers introduce responsible energy solutions, Storm Sustainability recognized the real challenge-educating the users about renewable energy and promoting responsible behaviors both at school and at home.
Solution
Storm Sustainability takes advantage of Fat Spaniel Technologies system, turning real-time renewable energy system data into an educational tool, Sunskool . The web-based portal is now the most comprehensive solar monitoring service available to schools in Australia, allowing classrooms to log in and see how much energy their school is generating and consuming. This state-of-the-art learning tool is updated in real time to provide more accurate information along with educational curriculum to enhance the understanding of our future generations.
“If we don’t change the way people think, and encourage them to embrace sustainability, technology can’t accomplish the real goal of responsible energy,” said Peter Wilson, director of technology and innovation at Storm Sustainability. “Using the Fat Spaniel services, we gained a flexible API for building the Sunskool portal and as a result we can now bring renewable energy from the rooftop into the classroom and makes it real for kids. Fat Spaniel gives us easy access to all of the data, and we use it to help students and teachers appreciate the whole energy cycle. It’s really motivating when they can see how to make a difference in terms of carbon footprint and conservation.”
Result
Teachers are using Sunskool to raise a new generation of responsible energy consumers. With increased awareness, the whole school community actively embraces the solar projects and helps to increase the overall benefits achieved with the alternative energy solutions. “Since Fat Spaniel is a global leader in renewable energy management, we can grow a worldwide Sunskool community,” said Wilson. “Our school portal can ultimately drive very broad-scale responsible energy behaviors.”
Storm Sustainability plans to release other dashboards for schools, helping them raise awareness about water conservation. Fat Spaniel services will help them monitor and report real-time conditions for harvesting rainwater and for identifying system leaks to eliminate undetected waste. Fat Spaniel services are also enabling Storm Sustainability to provide resource management solutions to both residential and commercial customers.
