A comparative study in two secondary schools aimed at improving their energy management: Archbishop McHale College Tuam, Coláiste Cholmcille Indreabhánn

Climate change is a crisis that is going to affect all of our lives in the future. Ireland is expected to have increased storms and rain throughout the country. This will affect our lives greatly unless we do something to change it. In an attempt to try and reduce the impacts of climate change, countries across the world met to address the problem. The meeting became known as the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto protocol set out objectives for each developed country to achieve with regards to carbon emissions to the same levels as 1990 levels. Due to the economy in Ireland being at a low point in 1990, Ireland was given a target of 13% carbon emissions above 1990 levels. In order to meet targets Ireland produced two energy papers, the green paper and the white paper. The green paper identified drivers for energy management and control; they were security of energy supply, economic competitiveness and environmental protection. The white paper produced targets in which we should aim to achieve to try and address the green papers drivers. Within the targets was the plan to reduce energy consumption in the public sector by 33% by 2020 through energy conservation measures. Schools are part of the public sector that has targets to reduce its energy consumption. To help to achieve targets in schools initiatives have been developed by the government for schools. Energy audits should be performed in order to identify areas where the schools can improve their current trends and show where they can invest in the future to save money and reduce the schools overall environmental footprint. Grants are available for the schools for insulation through the energy efficiency scheme and for renewable energy technologies through the ReHeat scheme. The promotion of energy efficient programs in schools can have a positive effect for students to have an understanding. The Display Energy Certificate is a legal document that can be used to understand how each school is performing from an energy perspective. It can help schools to understand why they need to change their current energy management structure. By improving the energy management of the schools they then improve the performance on the Display Energy Certificate. Schools should use these tools wisely and take advantage of the grants available which can in the short to long term help them to save money and reduce their carbon footprint.

Green furniture: sustainable design guidelines for the Irish furniture and wood products industry.

This thesis presents the research and development of sustainable design guidelines for the furniture and wood products industry, suitable for sustainably enhancing design, manufacturing and associated activities. This sustainable guideline is based on secondary research conducted on subject areas such as ‘eco’ design, ‘green’ branding and ‘green’ consumerism, as well as an examination of existing certifications and sustainable tools techniques and methodologies, national and international drivers for sustainable development and an overview of sustainability in the Irish furniture manufacturing context. The guideline was further developed through primary research. This consisted of a focus group attended by leading Irish designers, manufacturers and academics in the area of furniture and wood products. This group explored the question of ‘green branding’ saturation in the market and the viability of investing in sustainability just yet. Participants stated that they felt the market for ‘green’ products is evolving very slowly and that there is no metric or legal framework present to audit whether or not companies are producing products that really embody sustainability. All the participants believed that developing and introducing a new certification process to incorporate a sustainable design process was a viable and necessary solution to protecting Irish furniture and wood manufacturers going forward. For the purposes of the case study, the author investigated a ‘sustainable’ design process for Team woodcraft, Ltd., through the design and development of a ‘sustainable’ children’s furniture range. The case study followed a typical design and development process; detailing customer design specifications, concept development and refinement and cumulating in final prototype, as well as associated engineering drawings. Based on this primary and secondary research, seven fundamental core principles for this sustainable guideline have been identified by the author. The author then used these core principles to expand into guidelines for the basis of proposed new Irish sustainable design guidelines for the furniture and wood products industry, the concept of which the author has named ‘Green Dot’. The author suggests that the ‘Green Dot’ brand or logo could be used to market an umbrella network of Irish furniture designers and manufactures who implement the recommended sustainable techniques.