G l o b a l W a r m i n g E f f e c t s

2010 - 2012

A Comenius-project at Gymnasieskolan Knut Hahn Ronneby

Summary of the presentations from Sweden

During the period of 2010-2012 Gymnasieskolan Knut Hahn has taken part in the

Multilateral Comenius Project “Europe´s focus on climate issues – regional

practices and solutions”, together with four other European Upper Secondary

Schools in four different countries. The project has been very successful and has

created many positive effects in different areas. We have all learnt a lot about

how different regions of Europe face the climate challenge. The students have

also developed their skills in English and learnt about different cultures and

customs. Both teachers and students have made new friends and developed a

mutual understanding between the different schools and countries.

This booklet is a summary of the presentations our pupils have prepared for the

partnership meetings in Breukelen, Ronneby, Shaerding and Bilbao. The last

presentation in Høyanger will be a summary of all the previous ones.

Ronneby, Sweden April 2012

Ronny Mattsson Ursula Sandin Gullander

Headmaster Coordinator

Introduction

Martin, Sandra, William, Frida, Josefine, Joakim,

Hetal, Lisa, Elin, Fanni, Amanda, Caroline, Christoffer

. Ronneby

Ronneby Kommun

-> 28 000 inhabitants

-> 800 islands

-> Ronneby has had municipal charter for 300 years.

-> The church “Heliga Kors Kyrka” was built in the 12th century.

-> In 1568 there was a bloodbath in Ronneby.

-> Brunnsparken was Swedens most beautiful park in 2005.

Ronneby’s most famous man is called Tommy Körberg, he has

sometimes been called Sweden’s best voice. He participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1969 and 1988.

Gymnasieskolan Knut Hahn in Ronneby is an Upper

Secondary School, which was founded in 1969. It has around

1.150 students and 110 staff (of whom 80 are teachers). The

school offers a wider range of programs, both theoretical

and vocational and also adult education. It was rebuilt in

2004 and is now one of the most modern schools in Sweden.

It has many spacious and light areas, with a lot of room for

the students to meet and to work between lessons, and all

the new technology needed. There is also a big library, a

restaurant serving a hot meal for lunch and a cafeteria.

Gymnasieskolan Knut Hahn is a school which is developing

all the time, both technically and in terms of knowledge. We

want everybody to feel that they can learn and grow in a

safe environment. It should be a positive experience to

attend school and we feel it is important that our students

take responsibility for their studies. The focus of the school

is internationalism, cooperation with local enterprises and

teaching of entrepreneurship. It also offers a wide choice of

languages and artistic subjects as well as individual choices

of subjects.

The school is situated within walking distance from the city

center and has a sports hall and indoor swimming pool just

beside it. There is a friendly and open atmosphere at the

school and both students and staff like to be a part of it.

Ronneby & Gymnasieskolan Knut Hahn

Country Date

Students Teachers

Holland Breukelen

January 18-22 2011

Sandra Ranta Elin Algfors

Fanni Mattsson Caroline Månsson Lisa Abrahamsson

Frida Jonasson Joakim Wirén

Hannes Leifsson Hetal Purohit

Hanna Stegby Simander Lars Hanson

Sweden Ronneby

May 10-14 2011

Sandra Ranta Elin algfors

Fanni Mattsson Caroline Månsson Lisa Abrahamsson

Frida Jonasson Joakim Wirén Hetal Purohit

Amanda Andersson Martin Petersson

Christoffer Svensson William Neij

Josefine Brorson

Hanna Stegby Simander Ursula Sandin Gullander

Kerstin Lundeheim-Valind Lars Hanson

Austria Schärding

October 4-8 2011

Sandra Ranta Fanni Mattsson

Caroline Månsson Joakim Wirén Hetal Purohit

Amanda Andersson Martin Petersson

Christoffer Svensson William Neij

Josefine Brorson

Ursula Sandin Gullander Kerstin Lundeheim-Valind

Spain Bilbao

November/December 29-3 2011

Joakim Wirén Hetal Purohit

Hanna Stegby Simander Kerstin Lundeheim-Valind

Ronny Mattsson

Norway Høyanger

April 24-28 2012

Elin algfors Lisa Abrahamsson

Frida Jonasson Amanda Andersson Martin Petersson

Christoffer Svensson William Neij

Josefine Brorson

Hanna Stegby Simander Ronny Mattsson

Ursula Sandin Gullander Kerstin Lundeheim-Valind

Our travel schedule

Our first trip to Holland in January

2011.

When we went to Holland last year we divided the class

into three different groups and found out the following:

What to do to save energy in local businesses, local

government and various households.

Waterjet is a company that manufactures machines and

sells worldwide. It’s a large company that exports its

machines to over 38 countries. Waterjet has 5 subsidiaries

on all continents. Their headquarter is located in Ronneby.

The company is environmentally friendly, and they think a

lot about what they can do to save energy.

Waterjet also considers the environment when they export

their goods. They do this by transporting long distance

goods by boat or airplane which is better for the

environment than exporting by trucks.

Tarkett is a company which manufactures floor mats. They

export their goods all over the world.

To make the company as environmentally friendly as

possible they have built factories in many different

countries to avoid unnecessary transports.

When they need to transport their goods long distance,

they do this by boat or train since it is better for the

environment. For shorter distance transport they use

trucks. The drivers have got a ISO-certificate, which means

that there are environmental requirements on the runs

Tarkett recycles all the left-over material and uses it to

make new floor mats

The municipality

Ronneby began investing in the environment in 1992.

But they will really invest money in the environment

came after Al Gore’s movie “An inconvenient truth” in

2006. In Sweden we have national goals and

municipality goals. The objectives are the same, but

the municipality and county focus more specifically on

what’s needed in the specific area.

Energy consumption tends to increase in society as a

whole. We have more and bigger cars, drive more and

in our homes we consume more food from other parts

of the world.

There are increasing carbon dioxide emissions from

transport and in Ronneby people drive more than the

average in the county as well as in Sweden.

In Sweden you can now choose to buy green power to

ensure that production is done on renewable fuels.

This is because the Swedish electricity system is

increasingly interconnected with the other Nordic

countries and Europe, where electricity generally is the

fossil fuels.

In Ronneby there is no energy produced by wind

power, and no public municipality owned buildings

that use solar energy.

Holland January 18-22 2011

In Sweden we divided the class into four small groups with different focuses under the theme “How to save on the environment in your everyday-life”.

Organic vs Ordinary food In Sweden we talked about the difference between organic and ordinary food and we compared the prices between them. It turned out that some dishes have a very big price difference between organic and non-organic food, some items are up to 6 euros cheaper.

What makes food organic? Organic food is often locally produced and in the production is it not allowed to use transgenic or irradiation. Today it isn’t only food that can be organically produced. It can for example be; beer, beds, skincare products and also clothes that are made of bamboo and cotton.

Why choose organic? Organic food tastes on average better than non-organic food. It is better for the environment since it reduces emission of transport. It is better for your health without all the pesticides.

Mobile companies We also talked about mobile companies like Sony Ericsson and how they work environmentally. Sony Ericsson is a Swedish company which works with mobile communication. The have started a global take-back program called Greenheart. Greenheart is a mobile phone line where the phones are made of recycled phones and material. Sony Ericsson has a global goal of collecting one million phones.

Labeling One group has talked about environmental labeling. Some examples are; Svanen and Eu-Ecolabel,Marine Stewardship Council, KRAV, Bra miljöval Svanen is the official Nordic environmental label. The label means that the product is reviewed from a life cycle perspective which means that an organism develops slowly. There are many different products that can be marked with Svanen, but mostly they are chemical products such as hygiene products. EU-Ecolabel is an environment label that is used in all of the European countries. EU-Ecolabel is marked on hygiene products, televisions and also on camping places. To get your products marked with the EU-Ecolabel flower you must apply for permission and then if you are accepted have to pay a fee each year. Marine Stewardship Council is a label that works globally with marketing fish and shellfish to make us choose to buy the right kind of food. KRAV is a well-known Swedish label that stands for good animal care, social responsibility, sustainable development and environmental impact.

Bra miljöval is the world’s toughest environmental label since its high environmental standards. You can find the label on everything from paper to insurances.

Public transportation The last group in Sweden talked about public transportation and how it effects the environment. Today it’s essential for our society to use some kind of transportation in our everyday-life, but we can choose which kind of transportation we want use depending on the environment. Many choose to take the car to their job, instead of traveling with public transportations like buses or trains which would have been better for the environment. The best transportation is still to go by bicycle as much as you can, but if you are traveling a longer distance, please take the train instead of driving your own car.

Sweden May 10-14 2011

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Arrival Kastrup airport, Copenhagen Train to Ronneby Resecentrum Arrival Ronneby. Students meet hostfamilies at the trainstation Teachers check in at “Villa Vesta” Dinner at a restaurant for teachers

08.10 We meet outside the school for a day trip with bus

10.00-12.00 Kalmar slott An old castle from the 12th century.

Guided tour 10.00-11.00

12.00-12.45 Lunch at Burger King

14.00-16.00 Kosta glasbruk Swedish glassworks with handmade glass. Guided tour watching the glassblowers 14.00-14.45.

18.00 Back in Ronneby (outside the school)

19.30 The teachers have dinner at a restaurant

08.10–10.45 Exam in English for the Swedish students

08.10 International students/teachers and Swedish teachers walk into Ronneby

08.45-11.00 Guided tour of Ronneby The old historic parts and the church

11.30 Lunch at school

13.00 Train to Karlskrona

14.00-15.30 Visit to the Maritime Museum

15.30 Free time in Karlskrona.

19.00 Dinner for students and teachers at “Brunnsparkens Restaurang & Café”

08.10 We meet at school

08.15 Introduction of the day + meet the headmaster

08.30-09.30 Presentations

09.30-10.00 Break

10.00-11:30 Presentations

11.30-12.30 Lunch + tour around the school

12.30-13.45 Lecture by a municipal architect (David Gillanders) on climate changes in the future.

14.00 The rest of the day free

16.02 The Norwegian delegates leave Ronneby

19.00 The teachers have dinner at a restaurant

08.02 The delegates from Spain, Holland and Austria leave Ronneby

Schedule in Sweden

Nuclear Power in the world today.

Nuclear Power is the main energy source in 30 countries.

These 30 countries have together 440 reactors and

stands for 14 percent of the global energy production. In

Sweden nuclear power stands for 37 percent of the

energy production.

Some advances apparent nuclear power

Nuclear power production is practically free from

carbon.

The expansion of renewable energy is

considered expensive and slow.

The safety of nuclear power plants has improved

considerably.

Sweden have three major nuclear power plants which are

Forsmark, Ringhals and Barsebäck.

The radio active waste is divided into three groups

Low- level waste

Intermediate-level waste

High-level waste

To prevent errors the safety is divided in three steps

High quality materials

Regular inspections and tests

Well educated staff

Solar energy

Using solar energy is that we take advantage of the

energy the sun emits as it radiates to the earth. Using the

concept of solar energy is meant to take actively

advantage of solar energy. This can be done in two ways.

First directly heat water in solar collectors for heating

and hot water mainly. You use storage tanks and there

the water is heated directly by sunlight. To get as much

heat as possible you lean the tank towards the sun.

In order to maintain the heat the tank is insulated.

You can produce about 30 and 600 kWh/m2 per year.

This energy source is called Solar Panels.

Austria October 4-8 2011

And also by solar cells that produce electricity. Instead of

heating up water. And the cells become polarized

electrically when the sun shines on it, the front becomes

negatively charged and the back becomes positively

charged.

The cell is made of glass and silicon crystals, to let in as

much light as possible but at the same time protect the

cell against elements. This energy source is called solar

cells. Statistics says that solar cells provide about 18% of

the radiated energy today.

Hydroelectric

Hydropower accounts for about half of the Swedish

energy production and is together with nuclear power the

base in the Swedish energy system. Vattenfall owns and

operates 102 hydropower stations in the Nordic region,

92 in Sweden and 10 in Finland. Our Swedish hydroelectric

power produces about 35 TWh per year depending on

water availability.

How it works:

Water in the rivers and the landscape elevation creates

conditions for hydropower. Rivers that are best suited for

power generation have either high head or high water.

The energy that can be extracted from hydroelectric

power plant is in direct proportion to the height of fall and

water. Therefore, it is also easy to see why the largest

share of hydropower is produced in the northern rivers.

Hydropower production usually means that the river is

regulated. The water required for power generation is

stored in reservoirs and can be used in exactly the amount

needed for the moment.

Advantages:

Hydropower is a domestic and renewable energy source.

Sweden has plenty of water. Water can be stored and

used in exactly the amount needed for the moment. It is

easy to regulate hydropower.

Hydropower is a clean and renewable energy. The best

part is that you can use it over and over again without

wasting it.

The Swedish delegation sent two students to visit and

participate when Bilbao and the Basque Country stood as

hosts in November 2011. It was Joakim and Hetal who had the

opportunity to go on this trip and we started to make up a

presentation about the environmental goals in Ronneby.

We split up the subject in two parts and talked about one part

each. Joakim’s part was about a fossil fuel free municipality

and Hetal’s part was about a sustainable consumption.

The vision of Ronneby is to become a fossil fuel free

municipality, so the use of energy doesn’t contribute to

climate change. But there are some facts that are pointing in

the wrong direction.

•We buy and consume more transport demanding products

like exotic fruits.

•Many companies package their products somewhere else

than where they are produced.

•We use a lot of energy-consuming appliances, like

computers, ipads and things like that.

•Every person uses around 66 liters of hot tapped water every

day.

These things are prevalent for the whole part of Sweden and

the western world. But in Ronneby more energy is used per

capita compared with the rest of the country, and that is

something our municipality wants to change.

Ronneby has no electricity that is produced from wind power

stations or from biogas. The reason for our not having any

wind power stations is that a large air base is located north of

Ronneby. So wind power stations cannot be built do to the

security for the aircrafts. But in general more people want to

keep the airbase, instead of wind power stations since it

contributes to many jobs. Instead the municipality is investing

in expanding the heating network.

One climate goal that Ronneby has is to reduce the carbon

dioxide emissions per capita to 2700kg. This is the same as

6453 liters of gasoline. Including all transports for everything

you buy and travel.

Every inhabitant in Ronneby drives in general 7500

kilometers every year with a car, which is more than

average for a Swedish person. This is because the

other villages that belong to the municipality are

scattered and public transport is poorly developed and

especially too expensive.

Lifestyle issues are of great importance if we are to

achieve a sustainable society. All production and

consumption affect the environment in terms of

resource use and energy consumption. Sustainable

consumption is not just about goods and services that

we buy but also about what we do with discarded

products and that recycling is stimulated. To make the

waste less environmentally harmful, we need to

increase the recycling of materials and reduce wastes

danger. Everything we eat and drink affect the

environment somehow such as energy consumption. A

well built environment means that we must preserve

the natural and cultural values that exist in our cities,

towns and also develop them. Processing of urban

areas often threatens to erode the soil and water

resources and therefore it is important to identify and

preserve the urban landscape and the cultural values.

Basque Country Nov/Dec 29-3 2011

Our best memory…

We have learned to speak in front of a big

audience in English.

We have learned more about the environment

What we have learned

Josefine Brorson Christoffer Svensson

F a n n i M a t t s s o n

Hetal Purohit

Elin Algfors