Education
The focus here is on working with local schools to advance student interest and involvement in sustainability generally, renewable energy technology projects, energy conservation projects, and where possible provide them with opportunities for future employment.
The premise is that children who understand energy systems, clean generation technologies and the need to reduce energy use will be ambassadors for change in the community. A key partnership is with clean technology businesses built around business projects they are developing.
After a Level 1 Energy Audit was carried out on Ōtaki College in 2013 there has been a major focus on developing projects with Ōtaki College. The principal and key staff have a strong interest in advancing sustainability as an underpinning theme in relevant areas of teaching, and providing students with opportunities to explore ideas and practical projects around that theme. The College is a participant in Energise Ōtaki and a number of projects have been developed. This in turn has led to a growing national and regional appreciation of what Ōtaki College and Energise Ōtaki are trying to achieve.
With Ōtaki College: Exploring a Renewable Energy Future
This is an umbrella project, which has grown and developed over the last five years or so via a College partnership with Energise Ōtaki and clean technology businesses. It is opportunistic and built around projects as they emerge, and has at its core a desire to increase renewable energy use at the College, reduce energy consumption, embed clean energy awareness and interest among students, and reduce the College’s greenhouse gas emissions footprint. The following projects are part of this:
Sustainable Energy Curriculum
There is a continuing project of designing and using resources for Ōtaki College (and others) to teach sustainable energy ideas.Learn moreEnergy Cubes
‘Energy cubes’ allow students to simulate and test different conditions found in homes and in other buildings. Students learn about the relationship between insulation and energy conservation and loss as part of their Year 9 science curriculum.Learn moreE-volocity
Since 2017, Energise Ōtaki has helped support Ōtaki College to compete in the E-volocity Electric Vehicle Challenge. his is a competition to design, build and then race an electric vehicle.Learn moreŌtaki College Community Garden
Ōtaki College has one of the few college horticulture blocks remaining in the country and this was turned into a community garden that included the students learning about it and associated curriculum.Learn moreŌtaki College: Wood Gasification for Heating
Ōtaki College and Energise Ōtaki are exploring the possibility of wood pellet gasification to feed its existing school boiler used for heating.Learn moreŌtaki College PV Solar Array for Scholarships
Energise Ōtaki developed a project in partnership with the XŌtaki College Foundation Trust to install a 20kWp solar array at Ōtaki College. The system is owned by the XŌtaki, provides power, and the revenue funds student scholarships.Learn moreŌtaki College Pool Thermal Solar Array
Energise Ōtaki facilitated the redeployment of some of the thermal solar panels previously used at the Ōtaki Swimming Pool to the Ōtaki College swimming pool. The project was taken up by the XŌtaki College Foundation Trust as part of a wider refurbishment of the pool.Learn moreCurious Minds
Funding from the MBIE programme Curious Minds which encourages students to take up Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects helped establish various projects.Learn moreWoodlot for coppicing and fuel source
Between 2016 and 2019 a woodlot containing approx. 1200 willow and poplar trees was established at the far end of the College grounds. This was used to teach students about wood as an energy source.Learn moreSunrayker
Energise Ōtaki secured funding to build Sunrayker machines for the College to use as teaching tools. Each can trap up to 395°C from the sun, which students learn how to track, harness and store.Learn moreExperimenting with Emulsion Fuels
The programme involves Year 12 students exploring fossil fuels and their impacts and a practical initiative blending water and diesel for use in older diesel enginesLearn more
Other: Current and completed projects
Ōtaki Kindergarten – Power to the People
In 2018 and 2019 Ōtaki Kindergarten had a bicycle created for them that when pedalled created electricity in order to charge cellphones.Learn moreŌtaki College Community Garden
Ōtaki College has one of the few college horticulture blocks remaining in the country and this was turned into a community garden that included the students learning about it and associated curriculum.Learn moreSt Peter Chanel School bikes
In 2017, Energise Ōtaki provided 18 bikes to be used by the students at St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School. The kids love them and are now using them to bike to places like the Ōtaki Swimming Pool for classes where they used to have to be driven.Learn more