The '50/50 School Energy Plan' project launched by the Dénia City Council in the 2021/2022 academic year is a work methodology based on the European Euronet 50/50 Max project, which aims to reduce energy consumption in public school facilities through collective participation.
Its basic objectives are to increase information and training on the subject of energy and the responsible use of energy, promote a change in habits throughout the educational community, achieve greater participation in decision-making regarding energy, reduce energy consumption in the facilities and obtain economic resources to be able to invest in the center.
At the local level, schools and public buildings are among the largest energy consumers, exceeding 60% of the total energy consumption of the municipality. Faced with this situation, the aim is to reduce consumption and the associated impact it generates on the environment, and to do this we must focus on improving the energy efficiency of the centers through the awareness and participation of the entire educational community.
To encourage the centers to join the project, there was originally a commitment that the Dénia City Council would return 50% of the economic savings produced during the school year to the participating schools. However, the city council has decided to bet on this methodology and will reimburse each participating center 100% of what it has saved on energy during the course. In this way, thanks to the efforts of the students, the center obtains economic resources to be able to freely invest them again in the school in the way they deem appropriate.
The public schools Llebeig and Pou de la Muntanya have participated in this first edition of the project. The Llebeig school will invest the 3.486 euros of savings generated in changing the ceiling lights and lights in the corridors and classrooms to LED technology. The Pou de la Muntanya has decided to allocate the reimbursement of its energy savings during the past year (1.790 euros) to installing low-consumption fans in the classrooms. Both centers have confirmed their willingness to continue participating in the initiative, to which the Cervantes public school will join the next academic year 2022/2023.
The '50/50 School Energy Plan' project is divided into 4 phases, which are developed progressively throughout the school year. The proposed phases begin with an initial study of the center's energy situation, the purpose of which is to prepare a diagnosis based on a history of consumption, and the creation of the energy team, a fundamental pillar on which the development of the project is based, since will be in charge of carrying out the initial diagnosis, the proposal of activities and their follow-up throughout the school year.
The energy team is made up of 2 representatives of the teaching staff responsible for the project, a janitor or head of maintenance of the center, 2 representatives of the 5th and 6th grades of primary school (group leaders) and one representative per classroom of the lower courses.
Based on the established diagnosis, the third phase of the project consists of defining an action strategy by the energy team in order to achieve the proposed final results. A series of activities will be planned among the students throughout the school year, so that the need to save energy and how to achieve it is made known.
The last phase of the project tries to quantitatively evaluate the development of the different activities and initiatives launched during the school year. In this way, the center will have the capacity to obtain the economic resources that correspond to it as established in the project bases.
The energy consultancy will prepare a report specifying the results obtained throughout the school year. The global consumption obtained in the area of electricity will be counted in order to be able to compare it with the historical base line, prepared in the first phase of the project, and verify the scope of the implemented measures. The result of the project in economic terms of energy saving is a key aspect, since it will establish the figures so that Dénia City Council reverts 100% of the result in investment for the center.
At this end point, the energy team together with the center's management will discuss the possible investments that can be made based on the amount of economic resources obtained. After a first assessment and list of alternatives, a survey will be carried out among all the students to make them participate in the decision.
