About the project
The aim of the Schools for Intelligent Energy Use project is to link groups of students between 15 and 21 years of age in Cornwall with
- a REAL business, to address
- a REAL sustainable energy question and come up with
- a REAL solution.
Across Europe the project brings together more than a hundred schools and colleges with local businesses, councils and organisations for two years, coming up with solutions to reduce energy demand.
There are 9 countries taking part: Bulgaria; France; Belgium; Spain; Hungary; Romania; The Netherlands; The Czech Republic; and the UK.
It’s been running for a year now in the UK with more than 80 students, working on 15 energy questions for 12 local businesses in Cornwall.
Students have looked at such sustainable energy questions as:
What is the thermal property of a lump of wax and will it help keep fridges cool?
Just how many lights do you need in a Co-operative store to obtain the legal light limits?
Is there a solution to the large amount of energy consumed by holiday cottages on the Lizard?
And what are the financial implications of investing in several acres of Miscanthus as a biofuel versus the installation of a wind turbine?
The SIEU project takes in interesting approach for the students, in the active learning method – The students are in charge of their own research and the final presentation. This has several benefits, some which are not necessarily immediately obvious! Some students have been able to boost their grades; form contacts with people working in an industry they are interested in getting work in; and had the opportunity to shine at tasks not normally performed in the day to day school environment.
• Leadership,
• Communications,
• Team working,
• Logistics,
• Problem solving,
• Design,
• Analysing data,
• Report writing,
• And of course not forgetting the final presentations!
There’s been some great support from local experts working in the environment and sustainability sector – John Allard from SoftSun Lighting appears to have made the most impact with his enthusiastic and passionate approach to LED lighting.
The Businesses involved have all thrown themselves in whole heartedly, spending time with the students during the initial visits, answering their questions as the projects develop and coming along to the final presentations to hear the results. All of them involved have said that they would have liked to have had more time with the students discussing the options – showing a real enthusiasm for this style of link of schools/colleges with local businesses – the employees of the future making a positive impact with their potential employers.