If Britain is to make substantial and sustained cuts in carbon emissions, awareness of ways in which that can be done needs to be acquired early in life.

It is today's children who must build on the energy-efficient measures now being adopted by the present adult generation if they are to safeguard the future for their own children and grandchildren.

Though the £3.4 million of Government money announced for Bradford to be invested in ways of saving energy and water isn't a large sum when spread across the district's schools, it should prove useful at several levels. The obvious one, which will make it particularly attractive to the district's cash-strapped education system, is that sustainable measures such as renewable energy from wind turbines and solar panels will help to save money, leaving more to be spent on teaching equipment and staff hours (a single wind turbine installed at Spen Valley Sports College, for instance, is expected to shave about £2,000 off the school's energy bills).

From the Government's point of view, the carbon dioxide emissions saved by having schools switch some of their energy-generation to sustainable systems and investing in new on-site kitchens so meals don't have to be transported around the district will help it to achieve the energy-saving targets it sets itself.

But equally important could be the impression made on pupils when they see their schools introduce these new measures, familiarising them with ways of doing things that they can take back home to their families and carry over into their own lives as they grow up.