Environment

Edendale: New Zealand’s first solarZero school

Edendale will be the first in the country to be powered by the revolutionary solarZero energy service financed by New Zealand Green Investment Finance (NZGIF).

Minister for Climate Change James Shaw marked the day by attending an event at the school where our tamariki presented a short film on climate change and the messages they would like him to take to world leaders at the COP27 conference in Egypt. 

Our school/kura is the first of the 2,500 schools in New Zealand that could deploy the solarZero platform and together would generate over 200 megawatts of solar power every year, meeting 1% of New Zealand’s power demand and reducing the nation’s carbon emissions by 5%.

All of Edendale’s energy in the years ahead will be 100% carboNzero and 83% of the schools energy use will be offset by solar generation. It is estimated that the school will save over $160,000 across the 20 years of the solarZero service and make carbon savings equivalent to planting a 188 acre temperate forest. Importantly in these challenging economic times, the service fixes 40% of the school’s power bill for the next 20 years inflation free, putting an end to the rising costs of power faced by many schools and families in New Zealand.

Our school Board Chair Anthony Trigg says, “We are so very proud that Edendale Primary could be the first solarZero school in the country, it means a huge amount to our students who are super passionate about the environment and creating a more sustainable future.”

Here is the video for our school whānau to watch and enjoy. 

In the universe are billions of galaxies, in our galaxy are billions of planets, but there is only one earth.

At Edendale we are working together to help keep our environment safe, clean and green. We aim to keep waste to a minimum and promote the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We have a dedicated team of Kaitiaki student volunteers from across the school who help to promote this message and coordinate the compost and worm bins and soft plastic collection bins. We work in collaboration with our Garden to Table programme to reduce food waste and food scraps are used to make compost and worm tea to feed and nourish our edible gardens.

*pictured are our Kaitiaki worm bin monitors  – Kaia,  Audrey, Deepthi and Emily