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Environmental Education and Renewable Energy Technologies for Schools in Greece and in Developing Countries

Environmental Education and Renewable Energy Technologies for Schools in Greece and in Developing Countries
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Objective Action

With a looming climate crisis, it is of crucial importance to increase environmental literacy and renewable energy awareness, especially in the high school environment. Environmental education in high schools has been evolving in the last decades in Greece, and currently there is an environmental education project in the curriculum for each year of high school. These projects mostly emphasize applied physics and are oriented towards laboratory experiments. Yet, while climate change awareness has improved over the past two decades, most high-school classrooms spend an average of only one to two hours per school year covering the facts of climate change and its implications. In addition, most environmental education projects are lacking a practical understanding of solutions to climate change. One of the major attractions of a practical environment-based curriculum is that students find that their work has real-world outcomes.

This can be supported by experiential learning, a way of learning that supports students in applying their knowledge and conceptual understanding to real-world problems. The classroom can serve as a setting for experiential learning through practical activities such as case and problem-based studies, experiments, etc. However, when students are given opportunities to learn in real-life situations in the school or in the community, like those provided by practical applications and service-learning projects, the learning becomes significantly more powerful. By engaging in real-world experiences, students can deepen their knowledge through repeatedly acting and then reflecting on the action, can develop skills through practice, can construct new understandings of the world when placed in new situations, and can extend their learning as they bring their knowledge back to the formal classroom. In a nutshell, experiential learning can teach students the skills they need for real-world activities, it motivates students and creates self-directed learners who can tackle problems more easily. Particularly for science teaching it is important to train in scientific method and scientific attitude. Learning by experience also assists in the acquisition of skills and qualities while working in groups and to understand the manipulation of tools and equipment.

On a more global scale, similar educational activities have been organized in developing countries like Ethiopia and Nepal, under the umbrella of the Rural Electrification Research Group (RurERG) which is part of the SmartRUE. RurERG is a group that conducts interdisciplinary research with the aim of providing open source technical solutions on small wind and pico-hydro systems for rural energy access. At the same time, the group is involved in several implementation projects around the world in the themes of rural electrification, university education and networking with practitioner networks such as the Wind Empowerment association and the Hydro Empowerment network.

 

Target Audience

  1. Students and educational community in Greece

  2. Students and educational community in Developing Countries

  3. Residents of Developing Countries

 

Duration

The educational activities have started since 2015 and continue through the project APEX and other projects. The APEX started in 2021 and will last 2 years.
 


Description

The Greenest! team of the SmartRUE research group (Smart grids Research Unit of the Electrical and Computer Engineering School) of the NTUA has been organizing since 2010 until today, theoretical and practical environmental education projects in high schools, in the region of Attika and beyond, in order to inform and mobilize students on the current issues of climate change and renewable energy sources. The project itself consists of two 2-hour workshops with the students, during which the environmental and social issues caused by climate change are analyzed and renewable energy technologies are presented, with the use of presentations, discussions and interactive games, two 4-hour workshops during which the students construct a 45W polycrystalline solar panel using simple tools and materials, and a 4-hour workshop, during which the students install the solar module in the school building in order to provide electrical energy for a light-box of their own design and also for mobile phone charging. The above mentioned programs have taken place in several high schools such as: 6th General High School of Ilion, 5th High School of Kallithea, 3rd General High School of Vironas, 1st Technical High School (EPAL) of Kalymnos, 2nd High School of Palaio Faliro, General High School of Aegina, 5th High School of Glyfada, 5th General High School of Ilioupoli, 3rd High School of Zographou, 2nd High School of Pallini, 1st Arsakeio Tositsio General High School of Ekali.

During the first 2-hour workshop on environmental and social issues caused by climate change the following topics are discussed: an introduction to climate change, the earth's energy balance, the greenhouse gasses and energy balance, the impacts on physical systems, the consequences of climate change & adaptation, the science consensus and the climate change debate, and mitigation strategies. During the second 2-hour workshop, renewable energy technologies are presented as a solution to climate change issues and energy equality and access. Wind and solar energy are explained with the presentation of wind turbines and solar modules. Large scale application of these technologies, such as solar parks and wind farms are presented and community energy initiatives around Europe are explained. Further on, the UN 'Sustainable Energy for All' global initiative for universal energy access, improvement of energy efficiency, and increase of the use of renewable energy, are explained, with a global perspective on energy equality. Examples of electrification case studies in rural Africa are presented from the SmartRue research group.

During the two 4-hour 'Engineering in Practice' workshops, the high school students have a unique opportunity to engage with a renewable energy technology, such as photovoltaic electricity, with a practical hands-on experience. Initially, they are exposed to information on the photovoltaic phenomenon and its application on solar modules, along with background information and off-grid and grid-tied renewable energy systems. Simple circuit diagrams are drawn up by the students in order to design the solar panel to be constructed for charging a 12V battery. This is a simple engineering task that  provides the students with an appreciation of the principles of engineering in practice. Once the amount of solar cells and the connection setup required are decided, the students have a chance to construct the module with simple tools and materials. Gender equality associated with manual work is addressed throughout the construction process making sure both male and female students participate equally. While the construction is carried out, all aspects of solar module manufacturing are discussed and explained, such as the thickness of the glass surface, the importance of keeping the construction clean and avoiding particles to reside on the solar cells, etc. This creates a conceptual link between the manual process that the students experience and the actual activities in an industrial solar module manufacturing facility. Once the construction is completed, the students perform electrical experiments on the module, testing it for open circuit voltage, short circuit current and calculating the power produced once connected to a 12V battery. The optimum inclination of the solar module is found experimentally and the importance of orientation and inclination of solar panels is discussed. The actual act of implementing a solar panel design that the students have made creates a direct association between engineering design and engineering products in use.

During the final 4-hour 'Engineering in Practice' workshop, the solar panel is connected with a stand alone system consisting of a battery, a charge controller and an inverter. This system powers a light screen, which displays an environmental message decided by the student group. In this way, the students gain knowledge on the real operation of an off-grid system, batteries, direct (DC) and alternative current (AC), and learn  to experiment.

As an alternative to the solar panel, the construction of a small wind turbine with the students has been organized. The construction of the 1.2m rotor diameter small wind turbine is achieved with simple workshop tools for wood and metal working, and with the use of simple techniques. The rotor blades are constructed out of wood and are hand carved using hand tools, the metal support frame of the small wind turbine generator is manufactured out of metal using arc welding tools and techniques, while the generator itself, which consists of coils and magnets, is also constructed by the students, by winding coils and placing magnets on circular disks, which are then encapsulated in polyester resin.

An extended educational program called “Ecolepterio” was designed and implemented for 6 months in a public high school in Athens. Each month, students came across a different topic, where through experiential learning activities, they got engaged and started discovering new ways of thinking and reacting around major environmental issues. The program involved non violent communication seminars, zero waste and upcycling workshops, permaculture design for the school garden, an introduction to the pollinator disappearance and local solutions in an urban environment, school compost and an introduction to the climate crisis and construction of a functional solar panel. The result of such an extended program was that students started to realize how complicated and interconnected environmental issues are, and through their realization and actions, they transformed their local school environment into a sustainable place, based on the principles of permaculture and environmental awareness.

Finally, since September 2021, the SmartRUE team has been designing an educational Renewable Energy Hub for Greek schools in the Sivitanidios Vocational School in Athens and also in the Mytilene Vocational School in Lesvos. During the visits in the hubs, students will have a complete educational experience on energy literacy. Through gamification, active and experiential learning techniques, students will learn about climate change, renewable energy sources, smart grid, energy efficiency and energy saving, will construct a small scale wind turbine and a functional solar panel, will experiment with the loads of the electric network, will discover technical and behavioral solutions to save energy in their school building, will discuss and understand what is climate change and what are the solutions proposed today, and finally they will get prepared for the critical decision making they will have to deal with after graduating school.


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Impact on Society

  1. Number of schools where the actions have taken place in Greece: 13 Schools
  2. Number of students who have attended the activities in Greece: 260 Students
  3. Number of photovoltaic panels that have been locally constructed and placed in schools: 13 Photovoltaic panels
  4. List of developing countries that have taken action: 3 Countries (Ethiopia, Nepal and South Africa)
  5. Number of seminars in developing countries: 4 Seminars
  6. Number of participants in the seminars of developing countries: 100 Students
  7. Number of Wind Turbines Manufactured and Installed in Developing Countries: 5 Wind Turbines


Initiative Location

  1. Primary and Secondary schools in Greece
  2. Local communities and schools in Developing Countries

Working with Organization

  1. Wind Empowerment
  2. Hydro Empowerment
  3. Mercy Corps
  4. 6th High School of Ilion
  5. 5th High School of Kallithea
  6. 3rd High School of Byron
  7. 1st Technical school of Kalymnos
  8. 2nd High School of Paleo Faliro
  9. High School of Aegina
  10. 5th High School of Glyfada
  11. 5th High School of Ilioupoli
  12. 3rd High School of Zografou
  13. 2nd High School of Pallini
  14. Α΄ Arsakeio Tositsio General Lyceum of Ekali.
  15. Civitanideios
  16. 1st EPAL Mytilene

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Workers Participation

Researchers of the SmartRUE team of NTUA and as volunteers undergraduate students of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of NTUA.


Photos Videos

Benefits for Οrganization

  1. Creation of educational material: A total of 5 lectures and 75 slides were formulated for the conduct of the seminars, which can also be used for educational activities
  2. Acquisition of educational experience through the education of pupils, students of technical schools and universities
  3. Familiarization of researchers with the educational equipment used in our laboratory
  4. Transfer of the educational philosophy of hands-one experience to our laboratories
     



Connection with Global Goals







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