The Lion class (6th class) decided to survey the families in the school community to find out about their use of solar energy. They worked hard on designing the survey questions and they got a great response from the families. They analysed the results and generated graphs to represent the results. They got such a good response rate that they decided to incorporate this data into their project on Solar Energy in our Community. Below are the survey questions, photos of the pupils recording the results and making graphs of the results.
Solar Energy in our Community
- Do you have solar panels in your home?
Yes No
If yes do these panels heat water or do they make electricity?
________________________________________________
- Do you think solar panels are a suitable energy source in this part of Ireland?
Yes No Maybe
- Would you be interested in installing solar panels for electricity in your home?
Yes No
- Do you grow some of your own fruit or vegetables in your garden/ on your land?
Yes No
- If you are farming what crops do you grow e.g. grass, barley etc ?
__________________________________________________
- Do you dry your washing
(a) on a clothesline outside
(b) in a tumble dryer
(c) a mixture of a and b
(d) other
- Do you have any solar powered lights or lamps in your garden or home?
Yes No
- Do you have a polytunnel or a greenhouse?
Yes No
- Any other use of solar energy in your household e.g chargers etc.?
__________________________________________________
Thank you for your time and helping us our project 
We did a graph on solar energy to see how much people used solar energy in our community. We asked what type of crops people grew on local farms and gardens with solar energy.
19 people grew grass
2 people grew fodder beet
1 person grew apples
1 person grew pears
6 people grew wheat
11 people grew barley
3 people grew oats
1 person grew corn
3 people grew beat
1 person grew spuds
2 people grew rape seeds
3 people grew beans
1 person grew pumpkin
3 people grew maize
1 person grew sugar beat
These are the results from our survey
People grew fifteen different types of crops in their homes
Finally we asked what else people in our community are using solar energy to power inside their homes.
People used 8 different items with solar energy
2 people used chargers
2 people used electric fences
2 people used lights
2 people used battery packs
1 person used fairy lights
1 person used torches
2 people used calculator
1 person used bobble heads
These are the results from our survey.
People used eight different items in their homes.
Conclusions from our survey
More than a third of parents in our community already use solar panels in their home. 86% use them for heating water and 14% had both types of solar panels to make electrical energy and hot water. 88% of the parents in our community believe that solar panels are a great source of energy! Half of our community grow some of their own fruit and vegetables in their garden using the sun’s energy available locally. Nearly half have solar powered lights and or lamps in their homes or gardens. 15% of our community have polytunnel or a greenhouse on their land.
Thank you for reading .
