Energizing Education to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

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With the aging of the existing post-primary school building stock (new schools/deep retro-fits can take years from planning to completion) there is a need for low-cost solutions that enable long-term resource efficiency in schools & reduced greenhouse gas emission (GHG). EU building energy directives & climate actions to 2020 & 2030 underpin this necessity. ENERGE addresses this need using targeted physical interventions that combine a web based platform & building sensors (e.g. electrical, thermal etc) with behavioural studies & new educational approaches that enable schools engage in energy & GHG mitigation. This holistic, adaptable & multidisciplinary approach will combine sociological, pedagogic & communications expertise with low cost technology, ICT interventions & systems engineering. ENERGE will be demonstrated in schools in France, Germany, Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK. ENERGE aims to achieve a minimum 15% reduction in total energy consumption at 12 demonstration site schools over the project period & will engage and enable management, teachers, students and maintenance staff (entire school ecosystem) to reduce energy consumption by developing a new web-based platform tailored to different stakeholder within the school ecosystem. Long-term impacts will be consolidated by the development of additional and revised educational material to supplement existing school curricula (for students aged 12-18 i.e. formative years). ENERGE will track the effects of project initiatives beyond the school environment into the domestic environment of staff and students (24 homes) to monitor how interventions in school can have wider impacts beyond the school environment. ENERGE committees will be established in the demonstration schools to provide a focus for transnational engagement of project schools, longterm studies of the project impact & to enable the whole school community engage with & sustain energy efficiency & GHG mitigation.

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