Student Work from Greece

In November 2008 a meeting was organized by REAC with the participation of the teachers of all participating schools in Crete. This was the official start of the YEP! project implementation.  The teachers were given detailed information about the project, their obligations, the proposed timetable of activities and, the proposed and/or developed educational tools. This meeting also gave them the opportunity to exchange opinions, determine obstacles and difficulties, propose possible solutions and further actions, etc. Following this event, all teachers were given one month to find students to participate in the project (they could be from different classes, but all with interest in Energy and the Environment). Additionally, the teachers were required to draw up a project implementation plan for their school (including an estimate of the working hours to be allocated to the project per week).

The next step was the realization by REAC of presentations and speeches (about Energy, Energy Saving, Renewables, Climate Change and YEP! Project), in each participating school and the distribution of educational tools and informative leaflets to the students. These speeches, based on dialogue and opinions expressed by the students, showed the environmental and energy understanding of the students, as well as their awareness for simple energy saving practices in their schools and homes. The students were also given information on how to conduct an Energy Audit in their schools and their homes.

While the students were being taught by their teachers about energy and the environment (based on the REAC “Energy Book” sent to all teachers and the “Energy Leaflet” distributed to each student), REAC developed simple tables and questionnaires, through which the all the students, not just those on the School Energy Management Teams, became involved in the Energy Audits of their schools (including the building construction data, thermal energy and electricity consumption).  They looked at the energy behaviour and awareness of their co-students. This material was presented to the teachers and the Local Steering Group and after their evaluations, corrections and proposals; it was finalized and distributed to the schools. During February, the students produced the energy audits using this material. With the first results coming through in March (including proposals for better energy efficiency)It is important to mention that using these tables, the students were able  to compare the energy consumption in their school without any energy saving measures for a week (or more) and the energy consumption with energy saving measures for the same period of time.

During March and April 2009, the SEMT of each school went on a “Work Placement” (enterprise, public building, and hotel, small industry) to carry out an Energy Audit but also act as “Energy Trainers” for the employees.