Galway city schools are leading the way in the Green Home programme. Gaelscoil Dara and St James’ National School - one of the first group of schools to participate in, and complete, the programme - are now proudly flying their Green Home flags above their schools.
They assisted families in the city to adopt greener and more environmentally friendly practices.
The latest survey from the Green Home programme shows an improvement since May across the programme’s scope of energy efficiency, waste reduction, water conservation and transport.
In the last six months alone, participating homes in the city say their awareness of environmental topics has risen a further six per cent (to 65 per cent ), that eight per cent more people are now turning off unused lights (78 per cent ) and that in comparison to 2007 a further seven per cent of people now have a dual flush on their toilets (up to 32 per cent ).
Niamh Leahy, EPA communications officer with the Environmental Protection Association, says it is very encouraging to see the positive change in environmental behaviours and the increase in environmental awareness resulting from participation in the Green Home programme.
“Participating communities are being strengthened as they work together to protect their environment and the EPA is delighted to assist An Taisce in developing the programme.”
Dorothy Stewart of An Taisce education unit says that continual monitoring of the programme through surveys has shown a positive shift in environmental behaviour among participating households.
“As part of the Green Home programme participants complete a survey at the beginning and end of the programme. The results from these surveys enable An Taisce to calculate the degree of behavioural change resulting from participation in the Green Home programme.”
In terms of water conservation participants in Galway city tracked a rise of three per cent in people taking economy showers over baths (now 69 per cent ) and a five per cent rise in those taking economy showers over power showers (up to 55 per cent ). On energy efficiency, there was a rise of four per cent in participants turning down home heating in unused rooms from 49 per cent before the Green Home programme to 62 per cent on completion of the programme.
More broadly, 71 per cent of participants agreed that the Green Home programme had encouraged them to save energy, while there was a five per cent rise in participants agreeing that the Green Home programme had encouraged them to save water “quite a lot” or “greatly”. There was an 11 per cent rise (to 33 per cent ) in people citing the programme as encouraging them to reduce use of their car either “quite a lot” or “greatly”.
The Green Home programme arises from a partnership between An Taisce and the EPA and is funded under the National Waste Prevention Programme. It aims to raise environmental awareness and support positive and sustainable environmental actions among householders and community groups. It grew out of the success in Ireland of the Green Schools programme which is run by the An Taisce Education Unit.
The Green Schools programme is now in 75 per cent of schools in Ireland and has seen great success as an environmental management system for schools. --
