Carbon neutral new schools plan

England's Schools Secretary Ed Balls has announced 200 projects, costing £110m over three years.

These will include using greener technologies such as wind turbines, solar power and biomass boilers.

Under the Children's Plan, there is a target for all new school buildings to be carbon neutral by 2016.

The 10-year strategy, published last week, sets out the ambition for greener schools - but also acknowledges that it might not be practical on existing school sites.

'Sustainable schools'

Mr Balls says he will be appointing a taskforce to examine how schools could reduce their environmental damage - and the Children's Plan says it will look at "whether the timescale is realistic and how to reduce carbon emissions in the intervening period".

"The taskforce will work closely with designers, builders, local authorities and other key stakeholders to develop a road map to zero carbon schools," says the Children's Plan.

There is also a separate target to make school travel more environmentally friendly by 2020 as part of a wider plan for "sustainable" schools.

This includes promoting greener power, reducing energy consumption and encouraging more recycling.

Under the projects announced by Mr Balls, a typical secondary school will receive £500,000 to promote energy efficiency and to reduce carbon emissions.

This could include measures such as improving insulation, using lower-energy lighting and energy-saving devices on school computers.

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