Consumer Classroom Inter-school Competition 2016 – 2017

Competition open to secondary schools (12-18 year old students) across the European Union from 10th October 2016 to 17th March 2017, midnight, (Central European Time)

 

Take part in our fourth edition of Inter-School Competition on:

 

Smart Energy Consumers

Nowadays, your pupils are familiar with the global fight against climate change towards a more sustainable world. Many of them are wise consumers in the fight against this world challenge, they have learned how to minimize waste and save water. But are they aware of their impact as energy consumers?

 

Energy is everywhere! Indeed, in todays’ world, our young people won’t become wise consumers unless they learn how to improve their energy consumption. It’s in the ways of transporting we have (car, train, bike, motorbike), at home when we choose how to struggle against the heat or the cold, at school when we turn on the light, or even during holidays when we shower or take long baths. Energy efficiency also depends on household appliances we choose and, especially for young people, on our use of electrical appliances (including mobile phones, headphones, tablets and computers).

 

Energy Union and Climate Change policy are one of the top priorities of the European Commission. In February 2015, the European Commission presented a Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy. With regards to consumers, this strategy includes a clear and efficient consumer rights protection legislation, as well as a revision of the Energy Labelling Directive, a new Ecodesign working plan, to easily and freely access to data on real-time and historical energy consumption. In the longer term, the 2050 Energy Strategy’s goal is to transform the energy system (by reducing green-house emissions from 80 to 95%).

 

It also aims at empowering consumers by making their energy bill more controllable and predictable (helping the environment and saving money) and by increasing energy security by a domestic supply.

 

In this frame, teenagers should learn that their daily behaviour has an impact on energy consumption and more broadly on global sustainable consumption and the fight against climate change.

 

The Competition Exercise

This project will take you beyond your classroom – you will have to collaborate with another European school! Using the tools on the Consumer Classroom website you can connect with a partner school in Europe to create and share an intercultural experience of learning.

Benefit from Consumer Classroom’s teachers online community to build a strong and enthusiastic team! ”All for one and one for all!”

 

The exercise will consist of three stages:

With your help, students will define the role of energy consumption in the fight against climate change towards more sustainable societies.

 

Then, students from both classes will be invited to share and confront their daily behavior as energy consumers in terms of mobility (e.g. their parents’ car use), heating and cooling, thermal insulation, lighting, water use (bathing, washing, and gardening), energy efficiency of household appliances and even electrical appliances (including mobile phones, headphones, tablets and computers), etc.

 

Once they track their energy footprint, students of both classes would share their work and collaborate in order to create all together an Online Energy Consumption Tool Kit for Teens. This online tool should be made by your students and target your own students’ concerns to help them measuring and improving their energy footprint. This is a unique chance to be creative!

• Expected characteristics of the Online Tool Kit:
  • It should contain an Energy Consumption Calculator for Teens;
  • It should offer concrete tips and measures to improve teenagers’ energy footprint.
• Expected formats of the Online Tool Kit:
  • The Online Tool Kit as a whole is expected to be an online website page;
  • This online website page should contain at least 3 of the following formats:
    • Short-video (3 minutes max), including taped role-play
    • Infographic
    • Photo presentation
    • Animation
    • Audio
    • Online quizz

As your students will collaborate with another country, they are warmly encouraged to compare their cultural specificities and pay special attention to cost savings and home safety, and include their findings/outcome as the project context.

 

We kindly invite you to join our competition and let your students’ ideas be presented on how to become Smart Energy Consumers,  make the difference  for climate change and a more sustainable world!

 

What are the prizes?

 

First Prize:

A 2-day trip to Brussels for the project team to visit the European Capital and especially: the main European Union Institutions. The winning project will be presented on the Consumer Classroom website.

 

Short-listed Projects

The choice to select one item to equip their class/school.

 

Runner Up Prizes:

Honorary certificate by the European Commission for the participation in the competition.

 

What are the key dates in the Inter-School Competition?

Registration of project teams & projects submission: 10th October 2016 to 17th March 2017

Short-listing of proposals by jury of experts: 21st March to 7th April 2017

Voting session for the best short-listed Inter-School projects: 17th April to 26th April 2017

Announcement of the winner of the competition and results: 12th May 2017