DCU's Prof Fiona Regan and Dr Brian Kelleher feature in RTE's 'What Planet Are You On?'
Two members of Dublin City University’s academic staff will feature on RTÉ’s Science Week special series ‘What Planet Are You On?’
Professor of Chemistry Fiona Regan, Director of DCU’s Water Institute, and Dr Brian Kelleher, of DCU’s Chemical Sciences Department, will feature in the series which is due to start on Tuesday, November 12th.
The series – which will be run over three consecutive nights on RTE One this week – will look at how three families tackle challenges in their homes in the areas of water, waste, energy and food.
The consumption and refuse of each family will be monitored 24/7 by a team of four experts, Prof Regan, Dr Kelleher, Prof JJ Leahy, who will advise on energy use, and Dr Marco Springman who will monitor diet.
The series is being presented by host Maia Dunphy.
The families will tackle real challenges faced in our homes in the areas of water, waste, energy and food.
‘What Planet Are You On?’ – which is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) – is being broadcast to coincide with Science Week.
For the series, three households welcomed cameras into their homes: the Gannons in Tuam, County Galway, the McKevitts in Mullingar, County Westmeath, and the Cullens in Finglas, North Dublin.
Each house was retro-fitted with water flow meters to measure every drop of H2O used, smart plugs and a new electricity monitoring device called a Smappee recorded every Watt consumed by the households and their bins were taken away each week to be assessed.
A team of Data Collectors monitored the three households, day and night. Each crumb of food was noted. Every calorie counted and the carbon foot print of each plate of food is revealed in each show. Every kilometre travelled was recorded, by foot, bicycle, car, train or bus.
Each show features a week of household monitoring, followed by a meeting with the panel of experts. This meeting was filmed on the Tipping Floor of the Dublin Waste To Energy Plant, which takes black bin or refuse waste and turns it into energy to power 100,000 homes. The Tipping Floor is set against a backdrop of black bin waste and the stark reality, that as a nation, if we make small changes and think beyond our bin lids, we can as a nation reduce black bin waste by up to 20%.
The three party reality series special will air on Tuesday Nov 12th, Wednesday Nov13th and Thursday Nov 14th, at 7pm on RTÉ One.