Green Penguin
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| Energy demand is the source of more than 75% of carbon emissions in the EU, and demand continues to rise. How can we transform energy consumers into engaged citizens who contribute to energy efficiency and participate in creating a carbon-neutral city? |
 | Our answer is the Green Penguin. And who is he? The Green Penguin is a leader of change, a friend, a visionary and a green influencer. He’s here to help reduce our carbon footprint.
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The Green Penguin first connects schools, but can also be used to connect other public infrastructures and motivate everyone to work towards the common goal of reducing their carbon footprint. It teaches and motivates people (students) to actively and effectively address climate goals and decarbonization. As energy and resource use decreases, the cost to cities will also decrease significantly. And fewer emissions will help the environment heal. Let us stop the icebergs from melting!
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| EDUCATION | ECONOMY | ENVIRONMENT | BETTER FUTURE | |||
| Environmental literacy is not part of the regular educational curriculum, but it is an essential skill for our future well-being. It is the first step towards carbon neutrality as it provides tangible knowledge about how each individual causes CO2 emissions, how much and how to reduce them. | In many countries, cities pay the entire resource and energy costs for schools and other public infrastructure. Lower consumption will have a direct impact on costs. How does it look in your city? Would you like to reduce your energy and resource consumption costs? | Carbon emissions directly affect higher temperatures, melting Arctic ice, and climate change. Reducing carbon emissions is the first goal we must achieve to ensure a secure future for ourselves and future generations. | With projects like the Green Penguin, we are creating a better future for generations to come. Because we are changing our daily habits and activities to actively support the fight against climate change. |
| Resource consumption data will be measured, analyzed, and visualized in real-time. People will compete to reduce their carbon footprint by reducing resource consumption.Data will be recalculated in a tangible and understandable way:
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| SOCIAL | ENVIRONMENTAL | FINANCIAL |
| Environmental education will be widespread, beginning with children and continuing with adults. | Easy to understand the concept of CO2 emissions for the general public (emissions become tangible and known to citizens, just like 1 litre of water, for example). | Upfront, accurate reports and consumption profiles for public buildings are provided to the City to identify potential improvements and savings |
| Communities will benefit from engaged citizens, improved quality of life, and behavioural changes, all of which are critical steps on the path to carbon neutrality. | Behavioural changes and efficiency improvements will reduce electricity, water, heat and gas consumption and reduce waste emissions. The carbon footprint will therefore decrease on many levels. | There are direct financial benefits to reducing resource consumption. Reporting ensures compliance with all existing and new energy and environmental laws. |
Luis Goncalves, CEO of Iskraemeco: Green Penguin fits with Iskraemeco’s strategy to provide sustainable solutions to our customers, and it also fits with the approach we take as a company to serve the community and support the global goals of green and digital transformation.
Bahaa Abdullah, CFO of Iskraemeco: We are very happy to have such an innovative project in our company, which fits well with our corporate and sustainability strategy. The project is also very creative and this is a good thing to educate younger generations about sustainability, because they are our future, while at the same time we offer solutions for cities to support their decarbonisation.
Janez Koželj, Deputy Major of Ljubljana: In Ljubljana, we believe that CO2 reduction is not only about technologies, but also about values. It’s about smart people, so we need to involve people to reduce the carbon footprint. The Green Penguin is exactly what appeals to residents and uses technology.
Auður Önnu Magnúsdóttir, NGO Landvernd Iceland: When people are trying to improve their behaviour, it is very important to get feedback on their change quickly. Children are especially quick to adapt. So when you make a change to a climate-smart school environment, as in this project, schools and children can see in real time how they are contributing to a lower carbon footprint.
 | Norway Grants | Through the EEA and Norway Grants, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway contribute to decreasing economic and social inequalities in Europe and enhancing cooperation with the 15 EU Member States. The EEA countries share common values and responsibilities with other European countries to promote equality of opportunity, tolerance, security, environmental sustainability and a decent standard of living. |
 | MCRD | The Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy is responsible for planning and implementing cohesion policy in the Republic of Slovenia and for planning and coordinating national development policy. The Government Office is responsible for the day-to-day management of funding provided by the European Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund and decides on the use of these funds in accordance with the applicable legislation of the European Union. As of 24 January 2023, the new Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development (MCRD) has taken over all the tasks of the former Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy (GODC), including the implementation of the Norway and the EEA Grants 2014-2021, as well as the area of regional development. |
| ISKRAEMECO |
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| City Municipality of Kranj | City Municipality of Ljubljana | FEE Norway | DOVES FEE Slovenia – Eko School |
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Iskraemeco’s vision is to bring knowledge into energy. Our mission is to enable energy efficiency, so we created the idea and the Green Penguin consortium. The consortium consists of Iskraemeco, d.d., the Municipality of Kranj, the City of Ljubljana, the Doves Association, and FEE Norway. We applied together for the Norway Grant call and succeeded. With the Green Penguin project, which will be partly funded by the Norway Grant call and the GODC, we want to prove that an individual’s behaviour has a great impact on the environment. First of all, we want to teach children what it is and how CO2 emissions occur, and how we can reduce them. The Green Penguin is thus a socio-technological project and as such needs additional financial resources to be able to come to life and prove its positive effects. However, our goal is to take it later to the world, to other European cities, where more than 85% of Europeans will live by 2050, where there is also greater potential for cross-sectoral integration and synergies of digital solutions and data use.