Wind Turbine is Something to Shout About at Gairloch

Pupils at Gairloch High School have something to “Shout About” as a result of their success in a national Friends of the Earth climate change competition.

By winning the “Shout About” competition, the school now has a 1,000 watt Windsave Wind Turbine attached to the school building, which is producing electricity. 

Pupils impressed Friends of the Earth with their fly-on-the-wall film showing ex-janitor, Allan Wade, demonstrating to school eco-wardens how to monitor and save energy.  

Friends of the Earth judged the film to be excellently edited with carefully overlaid music and good narrative The film is now available on the internet via the FOE web site www.foe.co.uk.

The pupils involved were Leah Kenny, Emma Potter, Kirsty Alexander, Anna Hulme, Alex Warren, Lauren MacRae, Carianne Johnston, Theo Threadgould, Ruairdhri Wright, Alexander McFedries, James Potter and Jacob Naylor.  Teacher Mrs Abiy Orr, supervised pupil efforts.

The wind turbine was installed over the October break and is now contributing a small amount of power (20kWHrs), thus helping to save the school’s energy bill. 

Windsave have also provided training so that the pupils have an understanding of the process and pupils will monitor the contribution the turbine makes. The turbine has sophisticated braking mechanisms that protect it when the weather turns characteristically windy. 

Head teacher Mr John Port said: “We are delighted with the success of our pupils. They had great fun making the film and are delighted at the small but meaningful contribution they are making to reducing their carbon footprint.”

The school has silver Eco School status and is working towards its Green Flag.