INTERVIEW TO ALEXANDRA DELGADO IN CUADERNOS DE PEDAGOGÍA: "SCHOOLS ARE LOOKING FOR WAYS TO HEAT CLASSROOMS IN A SUSTAINABLE MANNER

Source: At-the-oUTSET.wordpress.com

Although it seems that summer and high temperatures are reluctant to leave us, it is time to prepare for winter. As the mercury plummets, complaints from pupils, parents and teachers about the low temperatures reached in some classrooms, whether due to deficiencies in the functioning of heating systems or poor insulation, are commonplace. Everyone remembers the difficulties experienced in past school years when anti-COVID protocols meant that windows had to be left open for ventilation. These restrictions are now a thing of the past and more and more voices - both from experts and the educational community - are calling for greater efficiency in schools. This issue is particularly important this winter, with energy restrictions planned throughout Europe due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and with an active energy saving decree in Spain that, for the time being, excludes schools.

Sustainability and environmental education are not new issues. The new education law states that "the education system cannot be oblivious to the challenges posed by global climate change" and states that "education for sustainable development and global citizenship must be included in the educational plans and programmes of all compulsory education, incorporating the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that all people need to live a successful life, make informed decisions and take an active role - both locally and globally - in tackling and solving the problems common to all citizens of the world".

This issue is also being discussed at the international level, as environmental education is cross-cutting and subsidiary to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations. Specifically, we refer to target 7 of goal 4, which states that, by 2030, all students should learn "the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and the contribution of culture to sustainable development".

A few months ago, the first heat wave of the summer surprised us with classes still in session and thermometers reaching over 27 degrees Celsius. After this, the education minister, Pilar Alegría, announced that she was working on a plan for "climate adaptation" of schools with more than 200 million euros. However, she did not specify what the measures, aimed at improving the situation of schools in both summer and winter, would consist of.

Looking at Europe, Spain is the third EU country where citizens consume the least energy in their homes, according to Eurostat. However, it should be noted that lower energy consumption does not necessarily mean more energy efficiency. For example, heating a house in Spain is not the same as heating a house in Austria. If we focus on the energy efficiency of households, Spain ranks seventh out of 27, according to figures from the European Odyssee-Mure project. However, of all buildings with an energy efficiency certificate, less than 10% of homes are certified as energy efficient and more than 80% have a low energy efficiency certification, according to the European Building Performance Institute.

Alexandra Delgado Jiménez, Doctor of Urban Architect at the University of Nebrija, tells us that, with the new regulatory framework, "buildings have almost zero energy consumption, but we have to focus on how to rehabilitate the existing building stock. In this case, schools should be a priority for pilot projects because schools are always the best laboratory for change.

On the other hand, he emphasises the importance of environmental education: "schools can promote the formation of citizens who understand the world and its challenges and who do not close their eyes to them, an environmental citizenship". He believes that the environmental challenges we face "require the participation of schools. The school is a prototype of a new society that is not alien to, but rather transforms the society in which it finds itself. Not giving them an environmental education is to leave them without some essential tools. And students are going to live in a future with increasing environmental challenges".

Schools fail on air quality

Those who have spent years studying how to improve energy efficiency and how to be more sustainable are very clear that Spanish schools and institutes do not currently meet the necessary requirements to be greener.

Dr Jiménez explains that, for many years, "they have been built without taking energy and its cost into account, so the energy efficiency of the centres depends on the time of construction and the regulations in force". He assures that, currently, "there are many solutions to improve this efficiency, both in terms of insulation, such as improving carpentry, the incorporation of passive measures and, of course, the use of renewable energies. It is also important that buildings are refurbished before they are built, as it takes 20 to 30 years - sometimes more - for the cumulative operational carbon from energy consumption to equal or exceed the embodied carbon footprint of the initial construction of a new building".

The Passivhaus Building Platform (PEP) is a non-profit association formed mainly by technicians and people related to the construction sector who are aware of high energy efficiency building, minimum energy demand and high indoor comfort. In a study carried out with the University of Burgos, they have analysed more than 700,000 parameters of temperature, relative humidity and CO2 levels in the classrooms of 42 schools throughout Spain. The conclusions are not exactly positive: only 16% of the time students spend at school is spent in adequate conditions of comfort and environmental quality. For five out of six school hours they suffer from heat or cold and/or high levels of CO2. Daniel Sánchez Peinado is technical director of the PEP Platform and explains that this "has repercussions of various kinds that affect students, teachers and administrative staff. Not only does it affect concentration and school performance, but it also has repercussions on health, as indicated by numerous studies that link the quality of the indoor environment and the quality of temperature and humidity to which a person is subjected and their health or any pathologies they may have".

Regarding the traditional use of heaters or air conditioners to improve the temperature, he says that "with this type of system you can improve indoor environment conditions, but not all of them. For example, if it's hot in the classroom and you put the air conditioning on, it will improve the temperature, but not the humidity. In fact, you may be drying out the environment even more. You are also not acting on the CO2 concentration, you are not purifying the air, you are only cooling it. He argues that "if we want to save energy, installing air conditioning or heating is not going to reduce that need. We should act on the passive part first and, in any case, move towards more efficient air-conditioning systems".

The PEP Platform believes that its study makes it clear that the centres need "comprehensive, not partial or punctual" renovations. Such renovations "should focus on all aspects of the building, starting with the passive part that reduces energy demand. The next step will be to change the active systems for more efficient ones. Sánchez Peinado points out that "it can be undertaken in different phases. In the case of schools, it is very interesting because they have a very defined period of use and a refurbishment could be planned without interfering at all with the normal use of the building during the school year.

In economic terms, the PEP Platform calculates that, if the 43 schools analysed in the study were to be refurbished, the initial number of schools would be doubled to 93 in 3 decades without the need to invest a single additional public euro. For them, the savings would be used to reduce air conditioning and consumption and would be allocated to other schools: "the renovation of 50 schools over the next few years would be completely free for the State, as a result of the initial investment in 43 schools throughout Spain".

Involving the educational community

Ecooo is a social and solidarity economy cooperative that has been working for many years to promote self-consumption in households and small communities, such as neighbourhoods, but also in schools. Its Ecooo Educa 50/50 project has three objectives: to save energy and reduce energy costs in schools, to involve the school community and to promote teamwork. Of the savings achieved, 50% is allocated to energy efficiency measures and the other 50% is decided by the educational community where to invest them.

Laura Feijóo García, coordinator of the Self-consumption area of Ecooo Citizen Energy, explains that with her initiative "the savings are a little more costly in terms of effort because you have to involve the educational community and make them believe in it". However, "the investment is low because it is a technical consultancy service provided by experts who accompany and energise a mixed group from the educational community with whom we analyse how we consume, how we can consume better and how to make changes".

These mixed groups are made up of different profiles: pupils from different grades, teachers, administrative staff and management team. First of all, "we hold dynamic sessions and workshops in which we explain what energy is and where it is consumed by looking at utility bills". We look for the causes and then establish actions: "for example, we put a delegate in each class who is in charge of turning off the lights when we go out to the playground. It is an energy agent who will do that task for one or two months and it is rotated. In this way, they take responsibility, they understand and it's a game for them and at the same time we make a change. Children are sponges and they are the most permeable. It is interesting because not only do we achieve a change in a school in a clear way because they see it, but that change is transferred to their homes and families and they explain to them why the tap should be turned off and the light switched off. After a while, consumption is measured again to check that the initiatives have had an effect. Feijóo tells us that "with the savings, half is spent on the school setting up energy improvement measures and the other 50% is spent on what the students choose: it can be anything from improving the playground to buying tablets or pencil cases for everyone".