Through the “Energy is our Future” website and online activities, the programme reached approximately 60,000 schools in 34 countries across Europe. During the last school year, “Energy is our Future” focused on raising awareness on how energy consumption affects climate change and how advanced materials such as plastics can help save energy and create a sustainable future.

Participants of the school competition designed a poster accompanied by a slogan and a short explanatory text either in English, French or German.

The award ceremony was also an opportunity to discuss and debate the European Union’s energy agenda and materials contribution for sustainable energy solutions on a much broader scale. The prizes consist of solar backpacks, iPods and MP3 players.

At the beginning of this school year, new online activities and a new school competition are available on the portal. They focus on three main areas:

• Energy efficiency: the impact of design and material selection on energy consumption
• Climate protection: how our day-to-day behaviour can contribute to reducing greenhouse gases
• Resource efficiency: how each of us can do something to save our resources

Both the activities and the school competition can be easily adapted to any school curricula in Europe. They address primary and secondary school students, from 7-20 years old. Teachers are encouraged to use the activities in a cross-curricular manner, involving school subjects such as Science, Languages, Art and Computer Science.

The “Energy is our Future” school programme is run by European Schoolnet on behalf of PlasticsEurope, the association of plastics manufacturers in Europe.

For more information about the school programme, please contact Petru Dumitru at: futurenergia@eun.org

For more information about PlasticsEurope, please contact: Hanane Taidi at: hanane.taidi@plasticseurope.org