Communicate your buildings performances Subscribe to the newsletter
 
 

Egaleo – Greece

9TH PRIMARY SCHOOL - Many hands make light work as whole school skips to low energy beat

Background

Having made a commitment to environmental sustainability, the 9th Primary School, Egaleo has gone on to mainstream the issue by participating in a rich array of related projects:

1. It is a member of Ecological Schools, an advisory resource administered by the Hellenic Society established to help schools protect the environment
2. It collaborates with the Italian NGO Legambiente, in its annual ‘Clean up the Mediterranean’ campaign
3. The School is participating in the Egaleo Municipality’s ‘refurbishment of school gardens’ pilot project
4. Every year it implements a new environmental project through the Ecological Network of the Aegean University
5. In 2005 the School implemented a water awareness and conservation project called Water: Source of Life
6. Beginning in 2004, the school undertook the initiative Rational Use of Energy and Renewable Energy Sources. The project was implemented in collaboration with the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature, who awarded the School with the ‘Flag of Ecological Schools’

On the back of such successes, the School joined Display, and with the support of teachers, parents, and of course the pupils, it set out to achieve the best possible rating for energy consumption primarily by making low-cost, behavioural changes.


Building details

Type of building: Primary School of brick/concrete block construction
Year of construction/ Floor area/ Operating hours: 1970’s
Heating and cooling / measures installed There have been limited changes to the building fabric, heating and cooling systems, beyond general maintenance.
Energy label/CO2 emissions In 2005 the School achieved Class A in energy consumption and B in both CO2 emissions and water consumption.

ProjectDescription

Aim The project aims to reduce energy and water consumption in the school primarily through changes in behaviour.
Key points The Municipality was particularly conscious of the significant burden that water consumption contributes to its overall operating costs, and so supported the School’s activities through its water reduction policy framework.

The municipality implemented an advanced irrigation system for the School’s garden and the 9th Primary School is to be promoted as an exemple for other schools in the area.

Focus on behavioural change led to numerous practices being adopted, including:
- Children drew small labels reminding pupils and staff to switch off lights in empty rooms, to open curtains and switch off lights on sunny days, and open windows and doors to allow natural ventilation. These were posted on classroom doors around the school.
- Both the interior and exteriors of the school buildings were painted in light, reflective colours to reduce solar radiation during the summer months.
- Savings were achieved at low cost, and with financial support from both local and multi-national businesses.
Reason for inclusion as Shining Example This Shining Example demonstrates that, even when faced with moderately aged buildings, Class A status can be achieved when a great number of people make modest but sustained changes in their behaviour. However, many of the school’s successes would not have been possible without the explicit support from key decision makers within the municipality.


Costs&Benefits

Costs &

funding

Due to the behavioural nature of the measures adopted, costs were kept to a minimum: funds were needed for educations materials and for visits to bio-climatic installations approximated €1,000. These were covered in full by the various sponsors, including local shops and the supermarket chain, LIDL
Benefits Each year, the School receives a fixed sum of money to cover its expenses; so by engaging with pupils and saving energy, the school was able to re-allocate fuel bill savings to more beneficial areas.
After the measures were implemented, energy bills from each trimester were compared with corresponding trimesters from the previous year.


Partners&Roles

Partnership details Egaleo Municipality provided key support to the school, and financial support by businesses in the local area was warmly welcomed.

Recommendations

Achievements The key to this school’s success in Display lies in its past: The 9th Primary School has been involved in a number of environmental projects over several years; step by step its pupils, parents and teaching staff have become increasingly aware of the issues to the extent that sustainability has become institutionalised: every year a new challenge is met and every class in every school in the community is engaged – proving that many hands make light work!

_ Furthermore sponsors are keen to support the school as they are confident of its success: everyone likes a winner.
Lessons Learned Adopting an approach similar to the one that led to energy savings, this year the new target is to drive water consumption Towards Class A.

To know more

Organisation

name

9th Primary School
Contact Mrs Efthimia Tzigou & Katerina Berli
Phone 0030 210 5315 835
Email berli@egaleo.gr

Arrangements to visit Contact Katerina Berli

<< Back

 
ENGLISH | DEUTSCH | FRANÇAIS
You are here: > English > Shining Examples > Greece > Many hands make light work as whole school skips to low energy beat (...) > English
Your communication campaign
PREPARE COLLABORATE IMPLEMENT PROMOTE EVALUATE
Display in a nutshell
ABOUT
ABOUT
The Campaign
Partners
The EPBD
Display adaptation
Software
Blog
JOIN DISPLAY
How to participate
Participation fees
Network
PARTICIPANTS
Participants
Users Clubs
Communication tools
Examples to follow
MEDIA
Newsletter
Photos and videos
Media coverage
Methodology
Documentation
Communication download
Downloads
SHINING EXAMPLES
Shining Examples
What is the TCA Award?
Shining Examples
TCA Award Ceremony 2011 - Brussels (BE)
Building statistics poster
Exhibition Gallery
Videos
History
www.energy-cities.eu
Campaign coordination: Energy Cities - 4, chemin du Fort de Bregille - 25000 Besançon
Contacts:
Ian Turner - Tél. : +33 3 81 65 36 80 - Raphaël Chatelet - Tél. : +33 3 81 65 36 80

RSS Help | Contact | Partners | Credits | Legal
With the support of