Last week the IEC announced the winners of the wattwatt.com Care4it competition organized by the IEC in collaboration with the IEA (International Energy Agency).
The theme of the competition, open to any school student in the world, was electrical energy efficiency. wattwatt asked students – tomorrow’s adults – to submit ideas to help increase awareness of the use or consumption of electricity and to suggest ways in which it might be used better or differently.
The judges - Nigel Jollands, Principal Administrator in the IEA Energy Efficiency and Environment Division; Jack Sheldon, IEC Standardization Strategy Manager; and Bill Thompson, independent journalist and critic, well known for his regular contributions to the BBC’s (British Broadcasting Corporation) programme, Digital Planet - were unanimous in their decision. They awarded the first prize of USD 10 000 to the the Akosombo International School in Ghana, whose two-minute video entry contained all the elements they felt best summarized the theme:
- concern for a local site – the Akosombo river which is threatened by the dam built to generate hydroelectricity
- increased awareness about electricity use – the entire school participated in the project
- advice given – switch off electric appliances not being used
- creativity and originality – an original musical composition written specifically for the purpose
- future implication – the possibility of spreading the message, “Energy Conservation is everybody’s business” to a much broader audience and educating other youngsters to save electricity in a meaningful manner.
Second prize went to the 6th grade students of the Kappelimäki primary school in Laitila, Finland, who will receive USD 3 000 for their “snowball project” and “Care4the world” video. The DVD they submitted showed pupils learning the effect of turning off lighting in the school whenever they left the classroom for longer than 10 minutes. They compared data over two years and then looked at energy consumption data from the local electricity utility. The results of their studies influenced the school to make light energy savings. They noted that over the single month of November 2008 they were already able to make a saving of EUR 110. In changing their behaviour, they also implicated others. They involved other pupils, their parents, other schools. They set off a snowballing effect in making people aware of the possible energy savings. Now they are aiming to continue this effort and to contact other schools both in Finland and Scandinavia
The winner of the third prize of USD 2 000 is the Chomutov Public Secondary School in the Czech Republic. The entry submitted by a group of 16- and 17-year olds was a study mostly in Czech, but with a well-structured, colourful introduction of several pages in English about the different ways in which energy is used and where savings could be made in the Czech Republic. The study includes devices, labelling, graphics, light bulbs and electricity uses for various devices, together with relevant site links.
Other entries – particularly a series of graphically striking posters received from school children in Turkey on the theme of electrical energy efficiency – will receive a certificate of commendation.