OKEHAMPTON College has won a national prize in an EU-wide school energy efficiency competition.

In the first round of the EU's U4Energy competition, Okehampton College won the UK prize for its efficiency measures.

The competition was created by the European Commission in 2010 to encourage European-wide competition on energy education. Schools from all over Europe compete for prizes across a range of categories, with the results shared across national boundaries.

Keith Webber, community energy manager at the college, said: 'It's great to receive further recognition for our work to increase energy efficiency in our school. We are now planning to add wind power and biomass heating to further reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

'Okehampton is well on its way to becoming an energy efficiency showcase, demonstrating all kinds of technologies and measures.'

Last month the college accommodated 800 people cycling across Britain as part of the Deloitte Ride Across Britain. The school's NVQ students catered for the riders, with the majority of the electricity used to prepare the food coming from the school's solar panels.

Mr Webber said: 'The food was high energy, but the school was not.'

The award is not the first time the college has been recognised for its environmental work.

The college won the Ashden Award in 2010, a prestigious prize given to schools, businesses, authorities or charities that make big strides in environmental work.