The Provincial Energy Agency of Granada, dependent on the Provincial Council of Granada, participates in a European Project financed by the Intelligent Energy Programme of the European Commission ENERCITIES. This project officially ended in September 2011, although the intention of the creating consortium is to continue to operate and expand over the years.
The project consists of the development of an EnerCities game and is designed by a consortium of 8 European partners from UK, Netherlands, Slovenia, Greece, Germany and Spain (Granada). In Spain the official contact is the Provincial Energy Agency of Granada which is the only Spanish participant in this project.
This game is designed to be accessed online at www.enercities.eu, or through Facebook.
The game is open to citizens and you can participate in the competition on your own, with your friends or your family. Any Spanish and European school can join the project for free by contacting the Provincial Energy Agency of Granada (www.apegr.org) or on the official website (www.enercities.eu), and compete with other schools in the European Union from their own premises by playing the game at any time. Anyone can use it and play, although it is especially designed for participation by primary and secondary school pupils through specific energy classes given by their teachers.
The game is designed to introduce young Europeans (aged 12-25) to the world of Energy in a simple and quick way. It is intended to give them an initial experience related to energy and its implications.
The purpose is to create and expand virtual cities, taking into account pollution, energy shortages, renewable energies, etc. The aim is to motivate young people to seek and be interested in finding out more about the current problems associated with energy consumption and the most recommendable solutions to achieve a more sustainable energy development model than the current one.
Once the project was officially finished, the game has been translated into several additional languages (such as Italian, Swedish, Bulgarian, Turkish, Lithuanian, Hebrew), has crossed the borders of the European Union (it has been played in more than 160 countries around the world, more than 70.000 unique users, and is being used in the educational system of Israel and is under study in Hong Kong). In Europe, in addition to individual users, 117 European schools have participated, 24 of them in Spain.
AWARDS:
The Enercities and Teenergy projects, which aim to bring energy education to students in the province, have been awarded as one of the 20 best European actions within the Display programme of Energie-Cites. Video award: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7ZIE5iYaSI. (European Display Campaign: http://www.display-campaign.org/)
Another EnerCities award can be seen in the presentation of the Enercities project at the European ICT 2010 competition: http://mfile3.akamai.com/19611/wmv/ict2010.clients.telemak.com/vod/100927_DAY1_ERIK_KNOL_ICT2010.asx
Among the latest awards won by the project, the Enercities game has won an innovation award in Slovenia in 2012, and has also been awarded 1st prize in the “Education” category of the European Energy Sustainability Week 2012 (http://www.eusew.eu/awards-competition). More information on the European Sustainable Energy Week 2012 (www.eusew.eu).