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Climate Detectives Projects 2023-2024

Project title: Analysis of school transportation and an action plan promoting cycling.

Deele College   Donegal   Ireland

Research question

Can a cycle to school initiative help reduce air pollution associated with fossil fuel vehicles?

Summary of the project

PART A: Traffic Monitoring in Raphoe – In this investigation, we are collecting quantitative data by counting the number of vehicles travelling to and from Raphoe across a six day period. The sample areas, dates and times are recorded below. PART B: Air Quality Analysis around Deele College – In this investigation, we are collecting quantitative data by setting up monitoring tubes to detect Nitrogen Dioxide, as part of the GLOBE Ireland air quality campaign. These tubes will be placed at different locations around Deele College and were sent away for analysis to determine the nitrogen dioxide levels in the air.

Main results and Conclusions

Can a cycle to school initiative help reduce air pollution associated with fossil fuel vehicles?

PART A
As can be seen from the results, there is a large number of vehicles entering and exiting Raphoe. Deele College gate presents the largest number of vehicles passing through. This may be due to several factors: With a student population of 780 and a staff population of 85, traffic from the school alone would lead to increased numbers. Also, there are many parents and guardians visiting the school, as well as guest speakers and student trips. There are buses that are now permanently parked outside the school gate due to congestion issues. McCarron’s butchers showed the lowest number of vehicles amongst all the sample sites. This may be due to the fact that this road leads out onto a secondary road, not a main road. Lorries use this road a lot as it is a shortcut to other villages and avoids main roads. There are also many farms nearby and often use this road to transport livestock. Friel’s restaurant showed a lot of traffic too. This road leads out to the main Letterkenny road, which is the largest town in Donegal.

PART B – Tube 1 and Tube 2 reported different categories of nitrogen dioxide concentrations. Tube 1 was analysed and recorded a nitrogen dioxide concentration of 4.9 ”g/m3, which is considered a low polluting level. Tube 1 was located at the back of Deele College with no entry or exit to traffic. Tube 2 recorded a nitrogen dioxide concentration of 10.91 ”g/m3, which is considered to be a “low to medium” polluting level. This is not surprising due to the heavy flow of traffic that was recorded. Also, a factor in this number may be the local climate feature of windy conditions. This may help disperse the pollution particles away from the locality. Thus, we can conclude that vehicle emissions are having an impact in Raphoe.

What’s Next? Actions to make a difference and help lessen the problem

Cycling Initiatives

There could be a possibility that students could cycle to school. Unfortunately, no Deele College student cycles to school. This may be due to the large catchment areas and the roads are not cycle friendly, especially for teenagers. The current student population is 778. It is therefore imperative that students are encouraged to use environmentally friendly modes of transport to school where possible. To get students thinking about the possibility of cycling, we hosted a “cycle to school” event in Deele College. Students got the opportunity to cycle on spin bikes from their catchment area to the school – without being in the road! We had loads of students giving it a go, and we may have even convinced some to consider a cycle!

Car Pooling
If people are going to and from work through Raphoe, maybe there is an option of sharing cars, so there would be lower emissions. This could be a short term solution to a more long term problem.

Electric Cars
Electric cars could be the future to solving the air quality issues – but does it solve the problem of traffic congestion in Raphoe? Also, as Raphoe (and Donegal) are quite rural, there may be issues surrounding infrastructure in terms of charging electric cars.

These are only proposed solutions, but they could be short term solutions to solving the air quality problem and traffic congestion in Raphoe town.

Project link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aIzF9t7bUYqdkinVZyUj0l2yulIP4t2u/view?usp=sharing

Other content:

Climate-Detectives-1.pdf

Projects are created by the teams and they take the full responsibility of the shared data.
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