Research & Innovation

~ SEAI to reach more schools through new partnership with AIB~

Today, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) marked the launch of the One Good Idea Project for 2014/15 by announcing an exciting new partnership with AIB, which will help the scheme reach more students and expand the programme to primary schools for the first time. The aim of the project is to increase students’ understanding of energy efficiency and climate change by encouraging them to take individual and collective responsibility for tackling these important issues.

The project invites competitors to use their creativity and ingenuity to design promotional campaigns featuring their one good idea for energy saving. To date, an estimated 5,000 students have targeted campaigns to almost 100,000 children, teenagers and adults throughout Ireland.  Shortlisted finalists take to the stage, Dragons’ Den style, at the showcase national finals ceremony.

New for 2014/15 is an extensive public awareness campaign to showcase the winning projects in local AIB branches. The new partnership will see also participating schools, students and teachers benefit from a big increase in the prize fund.  Each of the shortlisted teams will now receive a cash prize to help their schools continue their commitment to reducing their energy use and combating climate change.

Commenting on this year’s launch, Tom Halpin, Head of Information at SEAI said: “We are delighted to have AIB supporting this year’s One Good Idea project. This partnership will help One Good Idea to inspire even more people, raising awareness of the increasingly critical issues of energy efficiency and climate change”.

Commenting on the partnership, Jennifer Brady, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at AIB said:

“The SEAI One Good Idea Project really gives young people a chance to inspire people to make small lifestyle changes that can make a big difference to energy efficiency, and tackling climate change. We are committed to playing our part in supporting the environment and are delighted to partner with the SEAI on this exciting programme.“

For more information on the One Good Idea project log onto www.seai.ie/onegoodidea, email onegoodidea@realevents.ie or call 01 5224830.

One Good Idea Project:

The One Good Idea project allows groups of students to work in teams to research, design and implement a campaign to promote energy efficiency and improve climate change awareness to one of three target audiences: their peers, adults and the wider community or primary school children. Students can use events, drama, art, music, film, photography or writing to bring their idea to life and ensure the message reaches their audience in the most effective way.

Students can design their campaign around a number of topics relating to Energy Efficiency and Climate Change. There is plenty of support available from SEAI including a project pack, a new and improved website full of ideas and resources, in-school workshops and mentoring from the One Good Idea team, who are on hand to help the top 50 teams progress their campaigns.

About SEAI:

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has a mission to play a leading role in the transformation of Ireland to a society based on sustainable energy structures, technologies and practices. SEAI is partly financed by Ireland’s EU Structural Funds Programme co-funded by the Irish Government and the European Union.