26 May Green School Programme

Water Theme

Coláiste Éanna is continuing to strive to be more environmentally friendly as it works towards gaining its third Green Flag in relation to conserving water.  All public buildings, including schools, currently pay annual water charges, which given the size of a typical school population can prove quite substantial.  In order to ascertain where exactly the water charges were accruing from, and in the hope of spotting potential ways to reduce the cost of same, a water usage survey was carried out in each of the three school buildings and sports hall.  The results of this survey resulted in an inventory of the number of sinks, toilet cisterns, urinals, showers and dishwashers that were in use throughout the school.

Based on this information, it could be ascertained whether or not Coláiste Éanna was being environmentally friendly when it came to water usage.  While no glaringly obvious wastage of water was encountered, one area which could be improved upon was an upgrade of the facilities in the Main School building to bring it in line with the more recently built Rice and ERST buildings. This work would involve changing the “twist style” taps to “push down” style taps and changing the old 9 or 12 litre capacity cisterns to the more water-conserving 6 litre capacity cisterns.  Subject to costs and possible funding, it is hoped that work in this area could be done over the summer holidays.

An awareness programme relating to water conservation was also initiated to inform the entire school population.  This took the form of PowerPoint presentations relating to saving water both at home and in school or a person’s place of work.  These PowerPoint presentations have been running for a number of weeks on the electronic notice board in the ERST building.  To further highlight an awareness of water conservation an Art Competition was run over the course of a month.  Congratulations to David Leach, Josh Raymond, Cian Dunne, Conor Dunne and Alex Bang for their winning contributions.

One further idea that Coláiste Éanna is looking at in relation to water conservation is the possibility of installing a rainwater harvester.  Given the levels of precipitation in this country, together with the very large roof surface area of the school buildings for capturing same, it would make perfect sense.  However, like everything, any development in this area will be subject to costs and any possible funding.

Energy Theme

Having secured our most recent Green Flag in relation to being more energy efficient, Coláiste Éanna is hoping to improve upon its previous success.  At present, the idea of replacing some or all of the existing fluorescent lights to the more energy efficient LED variety is being given serious consideration.

Litter and Waste

Our caretaker, Mr. Dave Grant, together with Ms. Egan and her Transition Year students do a magnificent job at maintaining the school buildings and grounds, keeping them as litter free as possible.  In addition, each year, Coláiste Éanna participates in the “National Spring Clean” which takes place throughout the entire country during the month of April.  This year the event took place on Tuesday, April 30^th and involved a group of highly enthusiastic 2^nd Year students who undertook a clean-up of the school sports’ grounds.

As can be see, Coláiste Éanna is committed to reducing its environmental impact and in maintaining its Green –Schools credentials.