Young people with imagination and inventiveness are working to climate proof Galway by designing generators that take advantage of the bad weather.
Galway 2020’s flagship project ‘Hope it Rains’ is holding a five day day workshop at NUI Galway this week to design a Weatherbot, a microgenerator powered by renewable energy sources like wind or water.
It’s hoped that using those generators to power useful tools and services will help people get out and active, no matter the weather.
The ‘Weatherbots Inventor Workshop’ is bringing 25 young people aged 14 – 19 together with a team of engineers and artists at the NUIG’s O’Donoghue Centre.
Dr. Ríonach Ní Néill, Artistic Director of Hope it Rains said they want to change people’s perception of Galway’s admittedly bad weather.
“Hope It Rains wants to change our relationship with Galway’s weather, so that, by 2020, Galway will be the place to come to because it rains and blows.”
The young people taking part in the workshop will brainstorm what services could be powered outdoors in bad weather.
Learn about generating renewable energy from wind and water, and all the good stuff that comes from a typical Galway afternoon.
And over the course of the five days they’ll develop their ideas from a concept through to a completed design, ready for fabrication.
“We aim to make Galway’s people and places more weather and climate resilient. We want to make our weather a source of creativity and communality, to get Galwegians out in it, enjoying it, loving it – no matter what the forecast,” said Dr. Ní Néill.
Aside from Dr. Ní Néill, other professional who will be assisting the group are artists Tony Fegan, Gavin Morgan, Andrew Siddall, engineers Dr James Lee, and Dr Maeve Duffy, and students from NUIG’s Engineering Department.
The group will meet up again in September to see their completed Weatherbot at its installation and launch.
