St. Francis Boy's School is located in Clara, Co.Offaly. There are 13 students and 7 adults on the committee who meet fortnightly entitled 'The energy awareness committee' as they targeted energy conservation.
Actions;
An energy awareness week was held in March 2006;
Energy workshops were set up by S.E.I and Offaly County Council, extra energy saving tips were found on the Sustainable Energy Ireland website.
Action Day- ‘Low Energy Day’; switching off appliances and raising awareness.
An age appropriate energy quiz was held aimed at raising awareness to all classes
Canal Awareness Programme was arranged.
Energy Meter was read regularly
A comparison of yearly E.S.B bills showed a 70% reduction in energy costs and a yearly saving of €410!
This was achieved by:
Switching off of water boilers in all rooms at night.
Thermostats were reduced from 70 ° to 65 °
The electric heater in the staff room was put on a timer.
Pupils closed all doors behind them, switched off all lights when not in use, and turned off all electrical appliances at the end of each day.
Standby was deemed as wasteful , 20% of electricity was still being used while leaving tv’s/computers on standby.
Switched to Airtricity.
Green code; “Don’t stay inside and use the power,
Go outside and plant a flower”
In addition, ‘Water is cool in Schools’ campaign was launched by Aquaid raising the drinking water standards in schools throughout Ireland.
For a yearly contribution of €6 each child was issued a refillable plastic bottle with a sports cap.A water cooler facilitates each corridor. Juices and all other drinks were then banned eliminating a large amount of waste within in the school.
Recycling and composting still plays a huge role within the school.