Solar Heat Europe is partner of the project Our Solartown. 
The purpose of the project is to teach students the importance of renewable energy as an important part of combating climate change.
The project offers a practical experience, so students and teachers
will have the opportunity to build and install their own solar energy system at their school.
They will learn scientific and technical basis, but also the legal and organisational aspects of the whole process. In the end, the solar system will be used to actually heat the water used by the school.
Our Solartown sets a special focus on solar thermal energy for two reasons:
- Firstly, it is a very useful and developed technology, but currently, it is not very well-known. Teaching students about this technology is a step towards increasing general knowledge in our communities. Read more about solar thermal energy here (link to the section on renewable heat & solar thermal).
- Secondly, building a solar thermal collector is actually quite easy. Solar thermal energy is perfect for learning by doing, from start to finish. In comparison, other renewable technologies, like wind and solar photovoltaics, require complex parts that have to be bought from specialised manufacturers.Students participating in this project are between 10 and 14 years old. Our Solar Town currently works with schools from Austria, Greece and Slovenia. The project involves organisations working on environmental sustainability and climate protection: Climate Alliance Austria, Solar Heat Europe, akaryon, KPE and VseUk. Read more about the project partners here (link).Our Solartown is a pilot project, which means that it may set a foundation for replicating this project for other schools. The different learning units will contain in-class-units and an e-learning platform, which will be provided to teachers and students in different languages, tools for the technical planning and the overall process will be established.Our Solartown is funded by the European Commission, through the Erasmus+ program.