E-Team Project: Schools ENGAGE in Heidelberg30 May 2012 | 15h35 | 184 visits Since 1995, the City of Heidelberg has been carrying out the E-Team-Project – a project that aims to save energy in municipal schools through the conscientious consumption of heating and electricity. Schools are given the task to form E-Teams: teams of students, teachers and janitors, who together keep track of energy usage and develop measures to improve energy efficiency within their schools, mainly through a variety of activities aimed at encouraging other students and teachers to save energy via simple behavioural changes. As an incentive, the city offers each of the schools a yearly bonus of up to 1 250 euros, calculated by evaluating the implemented activities as well as changes in the schools’ energy consumption. On the 25th of April, the twenty E-Teams participating in the project were invited to an award ceremony at the University of Heidelberg, where Lord Mayor Dr. Eckart Würzner honoured their commitment. The participating schools had achieved energy savings surpassing 1.7 million kilowatt-hours of energy during 2011 compared to previous years – a reduction of over 12% of their total energy consumption. 18 schools saved altogether 380 121 kg CO2 (83 991 kg CO2 due to electricity and 296 130 kg to savings concerning heat-consumption). Before and after the ceremony, students had the opportunity to participate in workshops on environmental and earth sciences held by the university. Of course a photo shoot was organised and an ENGAGE poster was produced to communicate the success of this project! |