In light of the Paris Climate Conference 2015 and the world's urge for shifting energy sources to sustainable energy, it is increasingly important that we encourage our students to take interest in, and gain knowledge in, sustainable solutions. As we know the climate issues can only be solved if the whole world works together. Since the power grid is borderless, we need to think transnationally in order to control the actual amounts of renewable energy used. Better understanding and cooperation as well as sharing ideas across borders is essential to solve these issues in the future. Therefore our project idea is to bring about 50 students aged 16-18 from Germany and Norway together to share ideas, sort out the differences, and lay the groundwork for the cooperation that is necessary to solve future energy and climate issues. In order to to so, the students are supposed to build a physical model of the three essential main parts of a fully functional power system: renewable energy sources, storage facilities for energy and a shared power grid which provides a stable power supply. Energy companies and scientific institutions will be invited to lecture on and present their challenges regarding the production, storage and distribution of renewable energies. By bringing in those institutions from both Germany and Norway, the students will be lectured on real-life possibilities and challenges. Thus they will not only have to tackle technical problems, but also to take into account social, environmental and economical aspects connected to renewable energy. As a consequence, the subjects of the six teachers involved cover both technical and social sciences. During the 22 months of the project, transnational collaboration increases with each part of the power supply model's development. To safeguard efficient cooperation, the students involved will be introduced to modern communication and management tools such as SMART goals, Coverdale method and Mycollab. Two actual meetings with all participants will be held to assemble the physical models of the power system and carry out practical experiments. In the end, the whole project will be documented by the students and made public through an extensive multimedia presentation which consists of four main parts: 1. An in depth description of the physical model of the final power supply system. This also includes building specifications and measurements. 2. Suggestions on how social and environmental challenges can be met. 3. A guideline of how to manage complex transnational projects that can be used by others. 4. Reflection on how the project can be improved and continued. The project's expected impact is a deeper insight of the students into technical problems regarding producing, storing and sharing renewable energy. Apart from these technical issues, the project aims at raising the students' awareness that economical, political and environmental aspects also need to be taken into account. Thus the project will broaden their horizon to tackle complex transnational matters more open-minded and work towards solutions that are not only technically possible, but also socially acceptable. The students will also gain deeper knowledge in organizing transnational cooperation via modern communication and management tools, which are key skills for their professional future in a united Europe. Last but not least, the students' language and cultural experience are also likely to benefit.
In light of the Paris Climate Conference 2015 and the world's urge for shifting energy sources to sustainable energy, it is increasingly important that we encourage our students to take interest in, and gain knowledge in, sustainable solutions. As we know the climate issues can only be solved if the whole world works together. Since the power grid is borderless, we need to think transnationally in order to control the actual amounts of renewable energy used. Better understanding and cooperation as well as sharing ideas across borders is essential to solve these issues in the future. Therefore our project idea was to bring about 50 students aged 16-18 from Germany and Norway together to share ideas, sort out the differences, and lay the groundwork for the cooperation that is necessary to solve future energy and climate issues. The project was a success. In the fist year 36 students and in the second year 25 took part. The students built a physical model of the three essential main parts of a fully functional power system: renewable energy sources, storage facilities for energy and a shared power grid which provides a stable power supply. Energy companies and scientific institutions were invited to lecture on and present their challenges regarding the production, storage and distribution of renewable energies. By bringing in those institutions from both Germany and Norway, the students were lectured on real-life possibilities and challenges. They did not only tackle technical problems, but also took into account social, environmental and economical aspects connected to renewable energy. As a consequence, the subjects of the five teachers involved covered both technical and social sciences. During the 22 months of the project, transnational collaboration increased with each part of the power supply model's development. To safeguard efficient cooperation, the students involved were introduced to modern communication and management tools. Two actual meetings with all participants were held to assemble the physical models of the power system and to carry out practical experiments. In the end, the whole project was documented by the students and made public in different forms. The project's impact is a deeper insight of the students into technical problems regarding producing, storing and sharing renewable energy. Apart from these technical issues, the project aimed at raising the students' awareness that economical, political and environmental aspects also need to be taken into account. Thus the project broadened their horizon to tackle complex transnational matters more open-minded and work towards solutions that are not only technically possible, but also socially acceptable. The students also gained deeper knowledge in organizing transnational cooperation via modern communication and management tools, which are key skills for their professional future in a united Europe. Last but not least, the students' language and cultural experiences did also benefit.