The event is organised in the context of the European project ‘Our Solar Town’ which is focused on the importance of renewable energy in tackling the climate crisis, and addressed to schools in Greece, Slovenia, and Austria.

The European project is reaching its final phase of implementation and this will be marked with a public event meant to engage all the actors involved in the project, as well as other stakeholders.

The event aims to raise awareness on the role of young generations in the European society’s shift towards sustainability, as well as to analyse the current educational system and the opportunities it offers to young people to become an active part of the change process. The event brings together stakeholders from different backgrounds such as youth representatives, environmental NGOs, politicians, and local authorities, and invites everyone interested in the topic to join the conversation on June 10th from 4 pm CEST.

The event will be held in English.

Due to the emerging climate crises, ambitious energy and climate policies have been setup on all levels to shift energy production from fossils to renewable. Yet, in stark contradiction to this absolute urgency, changes needed are not realized to envisaged and sufficient extent.

As a major driver to make the energy transition happening, engaged citizens are needed to form a bottom-up critical mass supporting the top-down endeavors. This engagement can be triggered and supported by equipping learners with necessary key competences and skills by dedicated programs included in public education.

Therefore, the overall objective is to develop a course on solar thermal energy for the target group of teachers, including high quality blended/hybrid learning materials, combining theoretical background with all practical technical, organizational, legal, and financial aspects of building a solar thermal energy plant.

It consists of modules together forming a complete program or to be used separately in various settings thus fulfilling the need for flexibility for teachers and reaching a maximum number of learners.
Basic knowledge on solar energy technologies is difficult to acquire – a transnational problem across the EU. If at all, education so far concentrates on energy saving measures – education on renewable energy technologies is only accessible by experts/technicians.

However, our society’s future development paths will need basic literacy in renewable; combined with practical knowledge on building plants it could trigger enormous energy production in a more sustainable, more local, secure, and less expensive way across the EU speeding up the needed energy transition.

The MINT skills and knowledge acquired through the course (ICT, math, physics, energy technologies, further natural sciences) are complemented with knowledge about governance, legal and financial aspects and topped with soft skills (planning a project, working in a team, approaching stakeholders, overcoming obstacles, convincing neighbours, … ).

The course will generally enrich the learners’ skills portfolio with most important skills mix needed to realize innovative projects (also in other fields) and can thus significantly influence their future professional career.

VseUk Institute has been established in 2016, as a non-profit private organisation dedicated to science outreach and STEM education.

VseUk Institute’s goal is to increase the awareness of STEM importance and to excite the young generation to start loving science and maybe someday pursue their studies in STEM area. As it is expected that STEM oriented professionals will be highly desirable in the coming years, unemployment can be lowered, if more children decide to pursue STEM careers.

One of the goals is also to increase the awareness of the general public that STEM is an important and interesting area linked to our future, as we heavily depend on STEM to improve our quality of life with innovations in science, technology and engineering.

https://www.vseuk.si/

Solar Heat Europe strives for the growth of solar heat solutions in Europe through different actions, such as advocating for better regulation or encouraging the EU policy makers to shape a fair context for heating and cooling solutions.

With around 40 members in Europe, Solar Heat Europe represents directly or indirectly over 90% of the industry across the value chain.

http://solarheateurope.eu/

Education for Sustainability

The Environmental Education Center (K.P.E.) Pertouliou-Trikkeon was founded in 2009 and it is a structure of the Ministry of Education. It is situated both in the mountain area of Pertouli and in Trikala, a medium sized town in the center of Greece.

It is staffed with five teachers of primary and secondary education. It is a center of environmental education and education for sustainability. Our activity includes the design and implementation of environmental programs for students (on subjects such as renewable energy sources, climatic change, traditional architecture, forest, water), seminars for teachers on various environmental issues, workshops and awareness campaigns, as well as the creation of supporting learning and teaching material.

The aim of K.P.E. is to inform and sensitize students, teachers of our country and, through them, parents and the entire society on environmental issues, so that more and more people are motivated and involved in the sustainable management of the environment towards the maintenance of the ecological balance. This is achieved in cooperation with scientific institutions, governmental and non-governmental bodies, the municipalities and schools of our area, as well as nationwide.

www.kpe-pertouliou-trikkaion.gr

CAA is a branch of the supranational Climate Alliance founded in 1990 in Frankfurt. Climate Alliance is the largest climate protection network in Austria. Municipalities, schools, and businesses build a partnership with indigenous organizations in the Amazon. Climate Alliance Austria comprises seven regional branch offices and attends to cities, municipalities, schools, nursery schools and enterprises across the country. The main focus lies on information and awareness raising projects and activities to promote knowledge on climate issues and sustainable development and hereby generating public and stakeholder support regarding climate protection, equality and mitigation. The organization´s working methods are characterized by target-group specific communication, stakeholder-engagement, education and dissemination of best practice on a local, regional and national level. The main goals are the reduction of climate-damaging emissions and the protection of the rainforest. In April 2019 CAA’s network covers 985 cities/municipalities, 1196 businesses, and 597 educational establishments.

As such, CAA brings into this project: The initiative for this project, concrete experience with solar thermal school projects, combined with the experience of hundreds of projects at municipal level in cooperation with schools in the context of environmental education, and a broad networking basis. Furthermore, CAA has participated in many European/international projects, in the co-ordinator as well as in the partner role.

https://www.klimabuendnis.at