AWARD CEREMONY: Dave Dobbin receives his ASG National Excellence in Teaching Award from education minister Hekia Parata at a ceremony in Wellington earlier this month. Photo supplied
TRIDENT High School metal tech teacher Dave Dobbin was recently honoured with an ASG National Excellence in Teaching Award earlier this month. We were interested to find out a bit more about him and what makes him so “sustainable”.
You haven’t always been a teacher. Tell us what you were in your previous life and how you came to join the teaching profession.
I was born and raised in West Auckland, completed bachelor and masters degrees in technology at Massey University in Palmerston North, before moving to Whakatane in 1992 for a job at the Whakatane Board Mills.
I worked there for 16 years before becoming operations manager at Energy Options where we insulated, heated, ventilated homes, installed solar water heating solutions, lowered people’s cost of living through more efficient lighting and education about energy use and began to dabble in sustainable practices such as rainwater harvesting and photovoltaics.
About 10 years ago many people were encouraging me to consider teaching, including my wife Helen and her parents (all teachers) and friends who reckoned I had something to contribute to our youth. I went to Trident High School to observe a range of teachers teaching and I guess I got the bug.
What inspired me the most was seeing an amazing teacher in action, Tony Marrow, teaching science to a year 13 class.
Where does your interest in sustainable living come from and is it something you also practise at home?
My interest in sustainable living harks back to a childhood spent roughing it in the environment at Stillwater at the base of the Whangaparoa Peninsula, surviving on very little as a student, being shocked at the cost of living when finally earning my own living and then researching and teaching how to add value and eliminate waste (energy, time, materials) in large production processes at the board mills and then domestically for homes while at Energy Options.
We’ve heard you once built a log cabin to live in? Tell us about that.
Yes, Helen and I built a log cabin among 35 acres of beautiful native bush on Stanley Road, Wainui. It was a two-bedroom, three-storey, open-plan structure with an internal composting toilet, a fireplace, a “chippy” with wetback, rainwater harvesting, and great views of Ohope and White Island. It took three years to build (1995-1997) while I was a foreman at the board mills. I was working shiftwork and building our house on the days off. My father, Arthur, had just retired and would come down for weeks at a time to help out.
We chose the Swiss construction method of Peter Dorfliger’s from NZ Log Chalets on Hongi’s Track, Lake Rotoiti. If you haven’t called in to meet Peter, you must, he’s a legend. After five years we felt the cabin was too small for our family, so sold it and moved into town. We still miss it a lot.
Trident High School has cut its energy consumption substantially over the past four years, reducing its energy costs and environmental footprint. How did this project come about?
When I joined Trident in 2010 there was noyear 13 metal technology subject. I started to investigate the technological opportunities, which led me to rummage around in the accounts department amongst the power bills. I was shocked to learn we were paying around $110,000 per year for electricity.
Coupling this with the fact that no students or staff were energy conscious, we wasted huge amounts of electricity and the growing concern about global climate change it seemed natural that we could establish a course looking at sustainability at school and home and set a course to improve energy efficiency at Trident. So, despite not being paid for it I created a new course in 2011 that started to investigate the design and applications of renewable energy.
That year we submitted an application for $1.1 million dollars to the regional council infrastructure fund to install 1800 photovoltaic panels at school in order to be self-sufficient. It was flatly denied which was the best thing that could have happened as we then realised the best way to go about this is not to purchase a massive solution to our needs but to incrementally, through students, investigate, design, manufacture, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of student-led projects.
The Eastern Bay Energy Trust (EBET) was amazing with support and knowledge and provided a grant of $4000 to supply equipment and materials for students, which they have continued each year. Without this funding our projects would only have been bench-top models.
In 2012 we engaged Nik Gregg of Sustainability Options to help complete an audit of our school for opportunities and together presented a proposal to the Board of Trustees to save an unrealistic 40 percent of electricity over five years. This was unanimously accepted and Nik has been a mentor for us ever since as we have endeavoured to complete as many of the identified projects as possible.
Is it more about energy and cost savings – or education? And what has the school achieved so far?.
It is most definitely first about education. We decided that nothing should be done in terms of energy efficiency at school unless done through student-led action. This has slowed some projects down considerably but has resulted in great teaching and learning opportunities.
The savings, however, are invaluable. Every dollar we save is a dollar more the school has to spend on more important items for students.
So far over the past three-and-a-half years we have achieved an annual savings of 33 percent, $36,000 per year, which is 126,000 kWh per year saved and equivalent to 13 houses worth of electricity. We are set to exceed that 40 percent goal before the five years are up.
What do you think the students have gained through their involvement?
Students have gained a significant number of NZQA assessment credits, knowledge about climate change and possible solutions for our future, confidence with these technologies including extension beyond traditional mechanical skills into electricity and instrumentation.
Several students have also been inspired into careers such as electrical engineering at university and tertiary institutes or mechanical and engineering apprenticeships. We are trying to understand now how best to establish clear pathways into the growing number of tertiary renewable energy and sustainability courses.
Is it possible to make further savings? And if so, how?
Definitely, yes. Our ultimate goal has not been discussed or agreed to yet but I do not see any reason why we should not get to zero net energy consumption on site. Three years ago it would have taken 37 of the photovoltaic systems the students installed last weekend (10kW) to get to zero energy, currently it requires 25. How will it be in another three years?
We consider that we have just picked off the low-hanging fruit.
