Energy School: Anchoring sustainability in everyday school life

Why now is the right time to start

Sustainability and energy efficiency are not only global challenges, but also central topics for the education sector. The Energy School certification offers schools the opportunity to actively integrate awareness of energy consumption, climate protection and sustainable use of resources into everyday school life. The best time to start the Energy School? Now in March! Because starting now lays the ideal foundation for sustainably anchoring the topic in the new school year.

What is the Energy School?

An Energy School is a school that is committed to the careful use of resources in a thorough, continuous and comprehensive manner – both in the classroom and in the context of the school as a whole. The school is committed to integrating energy and sustainability topics into the classroom and everyday school life in an interdisciplinary way. Through workshops, teaching materials and specific measures, students and teachers learn how to optimize their energy consumption and actively contribute to climate protection.

For this commitment, it receives the Energy School award from the Energy City association and can be recognized again every four years. A school stands out from other schools with the Energy School award and develops an individual profile as a sustainable institution.

Children are our future – raising awareness at an early age

Children and young people are the architects of tomorrow. By inspiring an interest in sustainable thinking and action at an early stage, Energy Schools lay the foundation for a more conscious society. Energy Schools actively involve the youngest and show them how they can take responsibility for the environment in their everyday lives. From teaching children how to use resources consciously to putting what they have learned into practice in their own school projects, every small measure counts and contributes to raising awareness of climate protection among young children.

The most important goals include

• Continuously reducing energy consumption and energy costs in the school building.

• Increasing the share of renewable energies in total energy consumption.
  

• Changing the behavior of students, teachers and school staff to consciously use finite resources.

• Setting an example for society by taking a concrete stand on climate protection.

Benefits for schools

• Plan early: If you start in spring, you can integrate the topics of energy and sustainability into the curriculum in a targeted way throughout the year.
  

• Practical and interactive: Exciting projects, experiments and practice-oriented approaches make sustainability tangible for students.

• Saving energy – reducing costs: Schools benefit not only educationally but also financially from conscious energy management.

• Teaching future skills: Sustainability is a key topic for the future – the Energy School prepares students for the challenges of tomorrow.

A practical insight

The DalaKoop region has been the proud owner of the “Energy City” label since 2016. With this in mind, the DalaKoop municipalities decided in spring 2022 to strive for the Energy School award for their schools. In 2023, the region's schools were also awarded the “Energy School” label.

For the past two years, the school camp has been dedicated to the topic of “Education for Sustainable Development”. The camp takes place during the first week of September and is open to all students in the upper school (9th to 11th grade). During the week, various workshops and learning opportunities take place on interdisciplinary topics from LP 21 in the area of education for sustainable development, with a focus on health, the natural environment and resources, cultural identities, and the economy and consumption.

"For the school in Leukerbad, the collaboration with Swiss Climate is a valuable part of our commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency. Thanks to their expert support, we were not only able to successfully achieve the energy label in October 2023, but also to sustainably implement the annual energy targets.

The individual advice, which is specifically tailored to our needs, is of particular added value. With Swiss Climate's help, we are not only able to develop targeted energy-saving measures, but also to plan and expand our school garden as a living learning project. This combination of technical know-how and practical support enables us to integrate sustainability even more strongly into our school life."

Juventa Zengaffinen, headmistress of the Leukerbad school.

Get started – this is how!

It's easy to get started with the Energy School: schools can find out more now, plan initial measures and use teaching materials to be optimally prepared for the new school year.

To receive the award, a school must fulfill the following conditions:

• A resolution in principle by the responsible authority to start the process

• Formation of an energy committee in which the important representatives (authority, school management, technical services, apprentices) are represented
  

• Fulfilling a criteria catalog

• Implementation of activities with the entire school over the course of a year

In principle, schools at all levels can strive for the certification (primary school, high school and vocational school).

In this project, the following services were used:

Energy School

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