O'Fiaich Energy Bureau
O’Fiaich College, Dundalk, Co Louth.- Energy Management Bureau
O'Fiaich College is a secondary school located within the Dundalk Sustainable Energy Zone and it has been actively involved in a number of sustainable energy projects. O’Fiaich College building was refurbished in 2007 as part of the Dundalk 2020 sustainable energy community and it has seen 60% improvement in energy efficiency. The school’s latest energy related venture is the creation of an Energy Management Bureau run by Transition year students at the school.
Transition year students at O’Fiaich college have come together to create an Energy Management Bureau for the school. Previously this type of Bureau only exists for businesses and universities. Transition year (TY) students are required to establish mini companies during their TY programme and it is possible for an Energy Bureau to meet the criteria required for a mini company. Any mini company in the TY scheme must generate revenue so the Energy Bureau will do this by showing the financial savings on energy bills in the current year against historic electricity and gas bills.
O’Fiaich College has had 4 electricity display monitors installed in the school, these mean that students and staff can see real time information on electricity consumption in the school. Hopefully these monitors will help identify where energy is being wasted and will encourage students and staff to switch off appliances and lights that are not in use.
The Energy Bureau will be working on saving energy within the school as well as informing students and teachers about the importance of energy efficiency.
In any school space heating and lighting count for most of the energy use and the main task of the Bureau is to reduce the energy used heating and lighting the building. To do this the students will measure, monitor and set targets for energy use within the school. The electricity display monitors will help with this but also students are getting information by comparing ESB and gas bills over time. The targets need to be realistic for example the Energy Bureau have set a target 10% energy savings on energy bills or 10% reduction in CO2 levels.
In order to reach the targets the whole school needs to be interested and involved. There is an awareness campaign for the school run by the Energy Bureau. Students from the Bureau used SEI materials as part of their awareness campaign. As well as this members of the Bureau have set up a rota to check that appliances and lights are not being left on when not in use and at the end of each day.
These photographs are from a trade fair the students held in DKIT, where they launched their Activity Book. The activity book was designed with children in mind. At the trade fair they sold a pack which comprised of an activity book, a pen with their logo, a CFL (donated by ESB CS), and a temperature card (donated by SEI).Download their activity book here
On the 3rd March the Energy Bureau will present to Louth County Enterprise Board (LCEB)to compete for an award. They are also presenting to Junior Achievement on the 11th March – again the hope is to win an award.