Students at Mayo school learn how to save electricity

Mayo students from Kilmurry National School, just outside Crossmolina, learned how they can take action in saving electricity. They took part in an An Taisce Green-Schools regional energy workshop, in partnership with EirGrid, the operator and developer of the electricity grid.

Students from first class to sixth class, and their teacher Ms Catherine Canny, attended the workshop in the Ard Rí House Hotel, Tuam, Co Galway on Tuesday to learn about all things energy.

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The event, which is one in a series being held throughout the country, brought together a number of schools in Connacht working on the Energy Theme, to develop their awareness around energy conservation and how to effectively manage this important resource in our schools and homes.

The event saw students and teachers engage in activities, artwork and experiments, which allowed them to learn more about where electricity comes from and how they can take steps to reduce energy consumption.

To close out the workshop, the students from Kilmurry NS made lightbulbs and wrote energy pledges on them which they will aim to work on throughout the academic year.

Senior Project Engineer with EirGrid and Hollymount native, John Gill, spoke to students at workshop about EirGrid’s role in leading the secure transition of our electricity grid to low carbon renewable energy.

“It was fantastic to engage with students and teachers here today about energy in all its forms, and to outline how EirGrid is playing its part in climate action, by working to decarbonise the electricity grid," he said.

“It’s clear from the response from students, that younger generations are enthusiastic about leading the charge to make a positive impact in their communities, and events like these present an incredible opportunity, empowering young people to reduce energy consumption and be part of the conversation,” added Gill.

During the 2023-24 school year, schools saved a combined 18 million kWh of electricity, enough to make 58 million cups of tea, due to their participation in the Green-Schools programme, proving that interest in energy is strong among Ireland’s school children.

To date, over 3,000 schools have been awarded the energy flag since the beginning of the Green-Schools programme in 1997.

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