Young people are having fun time at ENERGEL Summer Camp

Traditionally, ENERGEL gathers children from the communities where the Energy and Biomass Project installs biomass-fueled heating systems. This year it was also joined by young people from the left bank of the Nistru River.

“I am happy to see here young people from the left bank of Nistru who have learned, along with their peers from the southern region of the country, about methods of producing energy out of renewable sources and using it efficiently. What is wonderful about the Energel Camp is that every year, it shows that sustainable energy is important for us and the planet, but also that sustainable energy is fun and that everybody can take part in this process of changing the way we consume energy, children having a lead role to play”, said Pirkka Tapiola, EU Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova..

Since ENERGEL was launched, more than 330 children from all across the country have attended it. They were selected through a public competition announced by schools in the communities covered by the Energy and Biomass Project, whose students attended renewable energy classes.  

Mihaela Ciurchi and Laurentiu Lozan are students at “Mihai Eminescu”  high school in Leova.  Their team came up with a solution to make their city independent of fossil energy sources. "We built a model of a city that does not consume gas, coal, oil. All the energy produced and consumed is made of renewable sources that are fully available and which, once used, do not pollute the air. I hope one day Leova will become a city with zero air pollution emissions", says Mihaela Ciurchi, co-author of the model and participant in the summer camp ENERGEL.

"Quality education is fundamental for the country development and is one of the priorities of the Moldova 2020 Strategy. The successful initiative of the Energy and Biomass Project to have renewable energy and energy efficiency courses in school curricula has the full support of the Ministry of Economy. Its achievements are impressive and prove that it is the young people who can bring change in their communities and families by being an example to follow by their peers”, said Valeriu Triboi, Deputy Minister of Economy.

The camp visitors had the opportunity to appreciate the children’s innovations (technologies that produce renewable energy, which are invented and designed by the children attending the camp) and model towns that don’t use fossil energy sources and take part in exciting experiments to generate electricity from citrus fruits or pickled cucumbers and many other green energy activities.

 “I am impressed to see your enthusiasm and I’m thrilled by your knowledge and your brilliant and easy solutions which, once adopted into our routines, can make a visible impact towards cleaner environment for sustainable future. Moldova has made a remarkable leap towards increasing renewable energy consumption. And this is not the end point. With a current spirit of partnership and collaboration, I am confident that we can make this important, but difficult target even higher thereby contributing to the achievement of one of important Global Goals: that is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”, said Dafina Gercheva, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Moldova.

The ENERGEL summer camp is part of the educational initiative to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency launched by the joint EU-UNDP Energy and Biomass Project Moldova in the communities that install biomass heating systems. Since 2011 about 22,000 children have attended renewable energy and energy efficiency courses at school, and more than 330 of them went to the ENERGEL summer camp.

The educational initiative is implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education, the Energy Efficiency Agency, the Continuing Education Institute and the Republican Center for Children and Youth ”Gutta-Club”.

The EUR 9.41 mil. Energy and Biomass Project is a three year project, 2015-2017, funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme.