Raising trainees' awareness of energy and resource efficiency and mobilizing them as "energy scouts" - these are the goals of a competitive training project run by the Dortmund Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) in cooperation with the NRW Efficiency Agency.
The current round of the project was accompanied by expert and jury member Prof. Dr. Udo Gieseler from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In an introductory lecture, he explained the basic concepts of energy and efficiency to the trainees. He also used the examples of lighting, ventilation, drying ovens and compressed air to illustrate how energy efficiency can be achieved in operations.
After four all-day workshops on the topics of energy transition and climate protection, nine teams of trainees then presented their own ideas for their companies in the final "Energy Scouts Challenge" in eight minutes each. The jury, which included Udo Gieseler, assessed the creativity, practicality and Business Studies of the proposals as well as the amount of potential CO2 savings.
Other members of the jury were IHK Managing Director Stefan Schreiber, Dr. Nicole Freiberger (Project Coordination at Effizienz-Agentur NRW) and Timo Kubenke (Consultant Climate Protection & Energy Efficiency at Green Navigation GmbH).
Results of the competition
- First place went to the team from Vitesco Technologies GmbH in Dortmund. They had converted a vacuum pump for the plastic injection molding plant so that it only has to run when needed rather than continuously.
- Second place went to the team from Diagramm Halbach GmbH & Co KG from Schwerte with the planned installation of a vertical wind turbine.
Both teams were awarded medals and a trophy and can now take part in the nationwide award ceremony in Berlin. This will take place in the summer during the annual "Climate Champion" event organized by the IHK platform "Unternehmensnetzwerk Klimaschutz".
The other companies that were represented in the competition with trainee teams: Flughafen Dortmund GmbH, Bayer AG, Hesse GmbH & Co KG, REMONDIS Production GmbH, ICN GmbH + Co KG, Dolezych GmbH & Co KG and Sparkasse Hamm.