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Pupils in Croatia get their calculators outduring school building renovationInformation technology teacher Renato Cafuk and his team of ‘Young Energetics’ were inspiredto enter U4energy by the transformation of their old school building, which, despite being small,consumed a lot of energy. “Teachers and pupils talked a lot about this problem,” said Renato.“We entered into discussions with the local authority and were able to secure funds for a majorrenovation. This triggered a whole set of energy effi ciency calculations in my class.”“This is so much more interestingthan I thought it would be.”Renato’s pupils met once a week to quantify thepotential and actual impact of their school’s roofreplacement, the laying of thermal isolation onCarlo, age 11.the school attic, the replacement of old woodenwindows and doors with new plastic ones and the renovation of the school facade with eightcentimetre-thickthermal isolator.The class also embarked on an energy consumption awareness-raising campaign to changepupil habits and further drive down energy wastage. The heating temperature of the buildingwas lowered by three degrees, presentations on effi cient energy use were given in differentclasses and all of the school’s teachers and pupils were asked to be more careful with lighting,PC and projector use. The local authority and parents were briefed regularly on the pupils’efforts and colourful stickers and posters were placed throughout the school building to remindeveryone that a concerted effort needed to be made.Renato’s pupils were tested weeklyon their calculations and became sogood at doing them that he had tomake his tests signifi cantly harder.“One child, in particular, really hadme working hard to come up withdiffi cult questions,” said Renato.“It is hard to teach children to be energy-efficientbecause their habits are well entrenched andtheir behaviour can be different at home fromin school. This is why it is important to involveparents.”Renato Cafuk, teacher.11