Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2008

INI T IAT I VES

Reducing Our Carbon Footprint

In 2007 Brisbane Girls Grammar School incorporated new energy efficient PCs as part of its environmental conservation initiatives.

install interactive whiteboards or data-projectors in all classrooms within three years (currently sixty per cent of classrooms have data projectors). A wireless laptop pilot was also undertaken in the Senior Science laboratories. Having seen the benefits of wireless technology, this pilot has now been expanded to a further three locations and incorporates more than 110 laptops and thirteen wireless access points. In 2008 the ICT Department will continue to look for ways to reduce the School’s carbon footprint while providing an ICT infrastructure that is responsive to the needs of students and staff.

An earlier review of the School’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure indicated that the number of PCs in use could be doubled without impacting energy consumption by moving to energy efficient green machines. With more than 1160 students, the technology infrastructure at Girls Grammar has grown over the years to rival that of a large corporation, including more than 750 computers along with upgraded storage capacities. One third of the School’s desktops have been replaced with more energy efficient desktop PCs with plans for the entire fleet to be refreshed over the next three years to keep pace with the demanding educational requirements of the teachers and students.

‘The School is an international leader from not only an educational perspective but now also a technology perspective’, said Mr Nathan Pilgrim, the School’s Director of ICT. ‘The major refresh of technology in our computer labs coincided with a review of our electricity supply, so we were specifically looking for a desktop with the improved performance the students needed but also improved energy consumption to meet the School’s environmental conservation initiatives’. In addition to incorporating energy saving targets into our ICT planning the School has staggered the introduction of interactive whiteboards into classrooms. As a result of the success of this introduction and positive feedback from staff and students, the School plans to

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