What is Schoolgen?
Schoolgen is a programme developed by Genesis Energy (one of New Zealand's largest energy companies) to bring solar energy to life for children across New Zealand. Why? Because young people are our future leaders and decision makers, and it's important that they understand the role renewable energy will play in their future.
By talking and interacting with them we have a real chance to cultivate environmentally- aware thinking and behaviour; not just theirs, but that of the people around them - their teachers, parents, parent's colleagues, friends... the whole community!
Since Schoolgen began in 2006 Genesis Energy has created a comprehensive programme that includes:
- 40 teaching resources, free for any primary, intermediate or secondary school in New Zealand to use and linked to the NZ curriculum, that explore electricity generation, climate change, and renewable energy, in particular, solar energy and photovoltaic (PV) systems.
- Providing 42 schools across the North Island with a 2 kilowatt (kW) PV system, at no cost to the schools. The PV system allows these schools to generate a portion of their electricity from the sun, and to teach their students about solar energy, climate change and electricity generation.
- A dedicated programme website on which the real time generation data from the solar panels at these schools is displayed for anyone to see.
School on 7 May 2008
Importantly schools don't need the solar panels to be able to use the programme. Every school in New Zealand can join the Schoolgen community by visiting the Schoolgen website and using the free teaching resources.
Schoolgen was financially supported by the Minister for the Environment's Sustainable Management Fund, This funding ceased in June 2010.
Why has Genesis Energy created Schoolgen?
As a major supplier of electricity in New Zealand, Genesis Energy is conscious of the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels for electricity generation and the role we play in meeting the country's climate change objectives.
As the community's awareness of climate change increases and the reality of future energy supply issues for New Zealand approaches, Genesis Energy believes it is important for all New Zealanders to learn about renewable energy technologies.
Schoolgen is a key sustainability programme for Genesis Energy. More information about Genesis Energy's approach to sustainability can be found here.
Factsheet: Schoolgen
Programme Benefits
- Raising the awareness and knowledge of students about renewable energy, in particular solar energy, electricity generation, energy efficiency and climate change;
- Raising community, parent and staff awareness of
solar energy; - Contributing to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions;
- Contributing to energy savings for the schools that have had solar panels installed;
- Students and parents will be able to enthusiastically promote alternative energy forms across their local communities because they've experienced how it works;
- The programme has been designed so that the teacher resources are easily accessible and free to use by any school in New Zealand - schools do not need solar panels to engage in the programme
Why solar energy:
Genesis Energy believes that renewable energy sources have a key role to play in securing New Zealand's electricity supply well into the future and therefore it is important for students to understand what renewable energy is.
Photovoltaic technology was chosen for Schoolgen as solar energy is a very accessible form of renewable energy for all of New Zealand. As well as this, PV panels are ideally suited for a school environment as they are virtually maintenance free, fairly unobtrusive; they work silently and produce no pollution; and the fact that sunlight can be converted into electricity is intriguing!
