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Energy Challenges

Energy-eaters flood
schools all over Europe

For more than 10 years Energy Challenges have been organized in the Netherlands and in the past 7 years in Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile also in Spain, Slovenia and Turkey. More than 250 schools have now participated in the Netherlands and internationally 196. All those schools have saved a considerable amount of energy, thus lowering the school’s energy bill.

Energy Challenges is a campaign for group 7 and 8 of elementary school and the junior classes of secondary schools. Together with their teachers, students look for ways to save energy. Energy Challenges challenges them to do research to find ways to save energy within their school. Not by making all kinds of interventions in the building, but by becoming aware of their own behavior and thereby changing that behavior in a sustainable way.

Partners
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Why
Energy Challenges?

Saving energy is fun!

Students become “owners of the school’s energy bill” and are challenged to save substantially on the school’s energy consumption.

Enthousiast

Through Energy Challenges’ monitoring system, results are immediately visible, making students and their teachers even more enthusiastic and looking for even more ways to save energy.

Awareness

As students independently explore ways to save energy, they become aware of their behavior, change their behavior, and will also inspire their social circle to do the same.

Select a CO2 icon for more info about the school.

Did you know that we save more than 7% energy in almost all schools?

Because we connect the schools’ smart meters to our monitoring system, we know exactly what the results of the campaigns in the schools are. It turns out that 15% energy savings is achievable through behavioral change: behavioral change through awareness. This is why the combination with knowledge about energy-saving techniques is so important. Discovering the energetic characteristics of the school at the start of the project is essential for this.

Schools spend a lot of money on energy, during the period that the 2IMPREZS project is running we expect to arrive at savings of

(Based on actual savings calculated using Eurostat’s Q1 2022 price level as a starting point).

€ 574.579,-

Savings average more than 7% of schools’ energy bills. What would that mean for your school? For the average savings of the participating schools in the 2IMPREZS project, that means

€ 2932,-

What do we achieve with our campaigns?

The campaigns in schools make teachers and students more aware of their energy consumption and how things can be done differently so that less energy is consumed and wasted. Most teachers flip the light switch every morning and then turn on the IWB. At the end of the day in reverse order, the IWB off and then the lights. The students have usually long gone home by then.

Together with the students discover how much power such an IWB consumes, calculate what it would mean for the school, how much power and money will be saved if the IWBs are turned off when they are no longer in use. The students then plan how to achieve this. And so there are countless possibilities that are actually all very obvious, yet don’t happen because our routines are different.

Students can break these routines at school, of course, but will also do so at home. It is no longer the parents who say; lamp off when you leave the bathroom, or door closed behind you when you walk outside, even though it is cold and the heater is on. But the children who say: should that tap be open when you brush your teeth?

Using power smarter?
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Making energy-eaters
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How can you participate ?

There are two ways to participate with your school in the Energy Challenges, the Energy Challenges Original is a version where Raging Reporters visit the school a number of times and guide the students and teachers with the execution of the campaign and also guide the workshops, kick off and finals.

Or you choose the Energy Challenges BOX edition, where students and teachers are taken step-by-step through a digital manual and they get to work independently. All materials, including for the workshops (except for lemons) are provided by the Energy Challenges Foundation for each participating class. Each week there are a number of times when the Raging Reporters are available digitally so that questions can be asked and ideas and results exchanged.

Energy Challenges campaigns take place in: The Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Slovenia and Turkey.

The ECB edition we will soon start using in Pakistan as well and is suitable for deployment in all countries.

Want to know more? Get in touch via: email: info@energychallenges.nl or call: + 0031(0)85-0230342 or via Whatsapp: 06-58849779.

Get started

The gold stars!

The design of the campaign consists of 9 steps. Each step is represented by its own star. To complete the challenge, you must earn each star by completing the tasks associated with that star. On the poster, which each group receives, the students can stick the reward, thus providing additional motivation. In the manual for teachers and students, everything is explained in detail and often supported by instructional videos. As a result, the teacher hardly needs to spend any time on preparation.

Star 1

Identity

  • Come up with a team name
  • Create a team logo
  • Make an introductory video with your team

 

Some facts about the Energy Challenges

  • More than 250 schools in the Netherlands have already participated in the Energy Challenges, together saving more than €900,000.
  • Schools often save more than 15% on their energy bills.
  • In the EU project of Energy Challenges: 2IMPREZS, 196 schools in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Denmark are participating in the Energy Challenges and together they have saved 12.369 tons of CO2.
  • The results obtained for each school can be viewed on this site!
  • Students change their behavior not only at school and during the campaign period, but sustainably and will inspire their social circle to do the same. Parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters as well as neighbors will be addressed on their behavior so that they too will become more energy conscious and save energy. So home energy bills are also going down!

Our ambition is to have together trained 1 million European climate innovators by 2030!

Start here!

What does it cost?

Energy Challenges Original is a version in which Raging Reporters visit the school several times and guide students and teachers through the execution of the campaign and also accompany the workshops, kick off and finals. For this campaign, we provide customization. We are happy to make an appointment to discuss this with the school. Schools do not have to pay all the costs of the campaign themselves. Almost all municipalities and counties are willing to take part of the costs, and sponsors also contribute to these campaigns in the schools. The school pays a contribution that is easily recouped with the savings on energy bills. Energy Challenges Foundation is providing the additional funding. The school itself does not have to put any effort into this.

Or you can choose the Energy Challenges BOX edition, where students and teachers are taken step-by-step through a digital manual and they get started independently. All materials, including for the workshops (except for lemons) will be provided by the Energy Challenges Foundation for each participating class. Each week there are a number of times when the Raging Reporters are available digitally so that questions can be asked and ideas and results exchanged. The campaigns are exactly the same only without the staffing from the Energy Challenges Foundation. For each class, we provide an ECBox. The cost per participating class is €995.

Workshops

Workshops will be held during the campaigns. 3 In total at the Energy Challenges Original and can be chosen from more than 40 different workshops found on the website by mutual agreement. For the ECBox edition, it is 3 standard workshops.

All workshops are structured so that students will do some discovery, such as how much electricity does that appliance consume, and then do something with that newly acquired knowledge. “Challenging sustainable learning,” we call it.

Digitale games

VR-game

In support of the campaign, the Raging Reporter will bring V.R. glasses featuring the Energy Challenges VR game, a fun interactive game where students walk through a real school and can learn and discover all kinds of fun things. The idea is to visit all rooms and have students look for energy guzzlers. These all hide a letter; once you finish the game, you can make a sentence out of them. There are work cards on which to fill in the letters.

 

Serious game

On a cell phone or tablet, this game can be downloaded from the stores: Serious Energy Game. This game is based on the VR game but uses ar techniques. Look for a variety of energy-saving measures in the school here. If you score enough points then you may proceed to the next level. The Energy Challenges 2IMPREZS site features the scoreboard. Do you score better than all the other players?

 

PC-game

On the p.c., tablet or cell phone, the serious game can also be played through the browser. Again, you will look for the energy saving measures the school. This is the link:
Start the Serious Game here

Kick-off

All campaigns start with a sparkling kick-off. A fun cap on energy quiz, with a fun prize for the winner! Then an energy scavenger hunt through the school. After all, you need to know about energy consumption, how the school is insulated, heated, what kind of lighting is in place and so on. This gives students a feel for the themes they can all choose and how they plan to approach it.

Final

Students host a final in which they present their campaigns and show the results of their efforts. Of course everyone is invited, the school board, parents and grandparents as well as the mayor or alderman. They make invitations for everyone and, of course, the press should not miss out. A celebration concluded with a genuine Energy Challenges certificate.