Evaluation of Energy Efficieny (EE) Information, Education and Training Programmes targeted at Children and Development of Best Practice

  • Project no.3208
  • Duration 04/2002 - 12/2004

The "Kids4Energy" project is a project with 10 partners from 9 different countries in Europe within the EU programme SAVE II. The full name of the project is "Evaluation of Information, Education and Training (EE IET) Programmes Targeted at Children and Development of Best Practice."

The overall development objective of the project is improved EE through improved quality and cost effectiveness of EE IET programmes/projects. The results were; 1) evaluation of the impact and process of EE IET programmes/projects targeted at children in Europe, 2) collection of gained experience in Europe as well as globally and determination of best practice, 3) establishing a solid network of developers, implementers and supporters of EE IET programmes and 4) disseminate the Best Practice Guide widely among these and others.

The Best Practice Guide and the network were used to develop a set of role playing cards to illustrate one approach to communicating the EE message in a "hands on" manner to increase children's interest and knowledge of the subject. Results are Examples of EE IET programmes/projects from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and the United-Kingdom, and their strengths and weaknesses are described in the Best Practice Guide for inspiration. They represent a broad spectrum in terms of target group, topic, approach, organisational set-up, and financing. Based on these evaluations a Best Practice Guide was developed, which aims to inspire and guide key actors working with this type of programmes and to help increase the quality and impact of future programmes.
The main project outcomes (products/deliverable) were:

  • A Best Practice Guide for IET programmes for children
  • A set of role playing cards, based on life-styles, energy and environment
  • A network of developers, implementers and supporters

The state programme Energy School NRW ("EnergieSchule NRW") was evaluated by the Wuppertal Institut in Germany. This programme was developed during a pilot phase where the Best Practice Guide materials were developed and tested and the overall concept was structured. The program is part of the future energy activities of the state ministry for energy with support by the ministry for schools. It is also a lead project of the state initiative future energies (Landesinitiative Zukunftsenergien). The pilot phase covered the school years 1996/97 and 1997/98. In this phase, the Wuppertal Institute and GERTEC planners and engineers coached the activities of five test schools, developed a three volume Best Practise Guidebook and two Best Practice Guide brochures. Further 15 schools tested the Best Practice Guide and other information material. Based on the results of the pilot phase and the developed Best Practice Guide material the statewide program Energy School NRW was implemented in the year 2000 at the state energy agency under the auspices of the ministry for energy. Target groups of the programme are all municipalities and other school owners and all schools of the state. Currently about 70 municipalities and about 1,100 schools (one out of six schools) take part in the programme. That means they have implemented their own local programme. Local programmes usually offer their own support to the participating schools using the media provided by the state program or own material. An important incentive is the energy-cost refunding scheme that most implement during their program. As the municipality is the owner of the school building the municipality saves money when the school saves energy. Most municipality schools are main energy consumers. In the framework of the municipal refunds between 40 and 50 per cent of the money was saved by the school. Standard calculation methods and standard contracts are part of the Best Practice Guide. Also numerous municipalities carry out local competitions etc.


Cookie Settings

Cookies help us to constantly improve the website for you. By clicking on the "Allow cookies" button, you agree to the use of cookies. For further information on the use of cookies or to change your settings, please click on More about the use and rejection of cookies.