The University of Malta Junior College recently concluded a two-year project entitled ‘Saving energy… Saving our future’, in which 21 Maltese students and teachers made use of Comenius EU funds made available by the European Commission through the local agency EUPA.
Last March, Malta also hosted 13 students and 12 teachers involved in the project from partner countries Germany, Hungary, Poland and Turkey.
The project sought to change students’ attitudes towards the sustainable use of energy, responsible consumption and encourage them to adopt a lifestyle which minimises the need for energy.
This was done by involving the participants in activities such as the monitoring of energy consumption at home, assessing their contribution towards the carbon footprint and thinking of different ways to save energy. In addition, patterns of consumption were also analysed with respect to climatic conditions and social behaviour.
Through the project, these activities took place in all participating schools simultaneously.
Five international meetings also took place throughout the project’s duration, and students and teachers had the opportunity to visit locations related to the topic they were researching, such as energy plants, wind farms, large-scale photovoltaic installations, as well one of the major factories manufacturing energy-saving lamps.