Pedal Energy Day of Action at St. Mary’s Secondary School

Students taking part in the Pedal Day of Action at St Mary's Secondary School.

Students taking part in the Pedal Day of Action at St Mary’s Secondary School.

Having received the Green Flag for Litter and Waste earlier this year, the Green Schools Committee at St. Mary’s Secondary School are now working towards their Green Flag for Energy. As part of the application for the energy flag, the Green Schools Committee and organising teacher Aisling O’Connor, held a Pedal Energy Day of Action on Wednesday, 26th October, which involved the whole school body. The committee received a grant of €1,000 from Cork County Council to pay for Gavin Harte of Pedal Energy, who recently appeared on RTE’s ‘Nationwide,’ to come to the school to run the event. On the Day of Action the students cycled 6 stationery bicycles which were set up to generate electricity to power a laptop, projector and microphone which Gavin used to make an interactive presentation to the students about energy use and climate change. It was an informative yet entertaining day and students were shocked to discover how much energy certain home appliances use, especially a kettle and an electric shower! The Green Schools Committee hope that the students and staff at St. Mary’s will be extra conscious of turning off lights, projectors and computers around the school, now that they all have a greater understanding of the impact that the use of non-renewable energy sources have on our environment!