23 February 2022

John Paul College, Frankston, has a longstanding commitment to sustainability and the environment. The college’s mission statement calls the community to honour the integrity of creation through careful stewardship. The next phase of this commitment is upgrading to energy-efficient lighting that will significantly reduce CO₂ emissions.

The college is focused on putting Pope Francis’ ecological encyclical, Laudato Si’, into action, along with the wider Church throughout the world. The Pope has called all Catholics on a journey ‘to create the future we want: a more inclusive, fraternal, peaceful and sustainable world’.

‘The lighting upgrade is just step one in our vision for creating a more sustainable college for generations to come’, said Principal John Visentin. ‘Young people are passionate about preserving our planet’s resources, and we have been inspired by that and want to play our part through action and education.’

‘Stage one of the college’s sustainability plan involved changing over 1200 fluorescent light fittings to LED fittings with self-dimming sensors over the Christmas break’, David Brennan, John Paul College Facilities and Operations Manager, explained. ‘The upgrade is a small victory for college sustainability, maintaining the correct lux level of lighting for our learning spaces and student productivity, while also reducing our annual energy usage by 94% and CO₂ emissions by 379 tonnes.’

Stage two of the sustainability plan, planned for this year, will be centralising and automating all heating and cooling controls to prevent unnecessary power usage. Stage three is generating clean, renewable energy with the installation of solar panels. Sustainable design, including the use of solar panels, has also been integral to the college’s 10-year master plan, which includes a new double-storey learning building and a food technology building currently under construction.