In 2000 four schools in the North Rhine-Westphalian communities of Engelskirchen, Emmerich am Rhein, Gelsenkirchen and Cologne launched pilot projects on energy remediation. In 2002 the Aggertal secondary school in Engelskirchen (population 20,000), for instance, saved, or generated with regenerated solar energy, a total of 83,000 kWh – about 70 per cent of the school’s prior power requirement – through a combination of a new photovoltaic system and energy savings on room lighting and due to new ventilation techniques and heating. In addition, a newly built cogeneration plant running on natural gas produces about 198,000 kWh of environmentally sound energy in the school basement each year. Thus the environment is freed of 200 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Optimisations were made during operation.
The total investment of the four school projects amounted to approximately 3 million euros. The project was planned as a „green investment” and supported with funds from the federal development programme for regenerative energy, low-interest loans from the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, and especially by social contracting, thanks to the donations by 350 citizens. The civic capital amounted to about 2 million euros. Parents and grandparents of the pupils as well as their teachers had the opportunity to become silent partners by acquiring a financial interest starting at 500 euros; for the other citizens the minimum deposit was 2,500 euros. In the case of the Aggertal secondary school, for instance, 35 of the 60 shareholders came from the school [and 25 from other areas]. The term of the contract is 20 years, with the possibility of optioning out earlier. Thus the investors actively contribute to climate protection – with the bonus of receiving returns of five to six per cent. What is more, the "Solar & Savings" (Solar & Spar) programme has made everybody involved (above all the pupils) aware how important the topic of energy is. Similar positive results could be achieved at three other schools.
The concept received several awards, among them the „Best Practice Award” in 2003, conferred by the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Ministry of the Environment within the framework of Agenda 21.
