At the beginning of May 2023, the Croatian Energy Scout training courses started at the Harburg-Freudenberger Belišće site in eastern Croatia. The workshop provided basic knowledge in the field of energy efficiency and trained young professionals from a wide range of industries to investigate and reduce energy consumption in companies. The training was complemented by a tour of HF-Belišće’s production facilities.
During the summer the hard-working Energy Scouts prepared their energy efficiency projects and presented them virtually to the expert jury on August 31. The practical projects showed considerable potential for cost savings in their companies and mainly comprised measures from the areas of lighting, photovoltaics and energy management. In fact, a mobility project that involves switching from cars to bicycles for commuting to work ultimately won the race: the Energy Scout team from the company Promo-eko d.o.o. was awarded the most innovative practical project by the expert jury.
In order to contribute to climate protection, Andrea Galić, Maja Prskalo, Nataša Uranjek and Marko Teni analyzed the energy savings and CO2 emissions for four employees from different areas of the company. Before changing the means of transport, CO2 emissions amounted to 918.71 kg of CO2 per year. After the employees switched to bicycles, this figure was only 137.32 kg of CO2 per year, which meant that the Promo-eko d.o.o. team contributed to a saving of a whole 781.39 kg of CO2 per year.
On September 27, the certificate was awarded by the project ambassador Stefanie Ziska at the premises of NEXE Group, a manufacturer of building materials, which is actively engaged in decarbonization in the energy-intensive building materials industry with several projects in the areas of energy efficiency and sustainability. In total, 20 Energy Scouts from nine teams and nine companies successfully completed the Energy Scouts qualification in the first run in Croatia. During a tour of the company and a concluding dinner, they shared their experiences of the project.
Congratulations also to all other Energy Scout teams from the companies Axereal Croatia d.o.o., Fakultet elektrotehnike, računarstva i informacijskih tehnologija, FERRO – PREIS d.o.o., Hrvatska banka za obnovu i razvita,k PIK-VINKOVCI plus d.o.o., STARCO Beli Manastir d.o.o., Regionalna energetska agencija Sjever and Zaštita inspekt d.o.o.
After a short presentation of the NEXE Group, the Energy Scouts finally learned which practical project was awarded by the expert jury (©NEXE d.d/Tin Jerger)
