eco|Driver

Programmes  that schools may wish to take further with the help of NEIT.

1. The “eco|Driver Programme”, a multi-purpose programme designed to raise awareness of energy saving and to engage students and the wider school community with energy saving practices.
2. “Green Computing” the process of implementing an environmentally sustainable ICT Strategy in a school.

eco|Driver™ is a programme developed in the UK. The premise of this programme is to monitor electricity, gas and water consumption and by broadcasting this data to a prominent display in the school in real-time, the issue of reducing energy & water consumption becomes a matter of daily of interest and concern for both students and staff. Most importantly people can see, very quickly, the effect of their energy conservation initiatives.

The eco|Driver™ software provides data every half hour of every day – via the Internet and directly linking into existing Microsoft software. Not only does your school save money it also reduces levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. Schools in the UK report in excess of 20% energy savings from the system so it quickly pays for itself.

Curriculum Opportunities

What is even better is that pupils are involved directly in consumption monitoring and can analyse the data as part of their lessons with lesson plans included in the package.   This authentic real time data provides a real opportunity for learning  that can be used in mathematics and statistics programmes as well as illustrate to important concepts in science such as energy and sustainability.

Sustainability

The Education for Sustainability website on TKI is designed to help teachers engage students in relevant learning about sustainability and encourages them to act responsibly and to contribute to the well-being of New Zealand. It does this by making connections between the learning areas, vision, principles, values and key competencies of the national curricula - The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa

The Ministry of Education has developed a series of achievement standards for Education for Sustainability at levels 2 and 3 that are aligned with The New Zealand Curriculum. They may be used within dedicated year-long sustainability courses or be incorporated into such senior subjects as biology, geography, economics, and horticulture as well as within learning areas such as technology and the arts.

The level 2 and level 3 standards on the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) website are registered under the domain, Environmental Sustainability and are available for use by teachers.

Using this data could contribute to participation in the NZ Enviroschools programme where approximately 600 schools throughout New Zealand are engaging in learning for sustainability – a holistic process that has a range of environmental, educational, economic and social benefits for students and their community. This programme is supported by The Enviroschools Foundation a charitable trust. It provides support and strategic direction for a nationwide environmental education programme.

If you are interested in using the eco|Driver™ system please contact NEIT at ecoict@newerait.co.nz