European Solar Days May Report Spain

Transcription

1 European Solar Days May Report Spain Support by: 1

2 Results of European Solar Days 2009 in Spain 1.1. Participation in European Solar Days 2009 The 2 nd Edition of the European Solar Days organised in Spain, by ASIT took place from the 12 th to the 22 nd of May We learned a lot after our participation in last years edition, because of the experienced we gained, this year the events have been successful throughout the country. More than citizens have participated in more than 7000 events held in 15 European Countries. We have done 383 events surpassing our initial target of 100 events with almost people participating in them. The slogan of this campaign has been: Conviértete en el protagonista del Día Solar Europeo.(Be the protagonist of the European Solar Day) Participants in European Solar Days 2009 This Edition has had a huge participation due to the vast diffusion organised and largely to the cooperation received from the Energy Agencies. These agencies have spread the celebration of the European Solar Days in their autonomous region resulting in numerous events throughout Spain. Of the participants: 20 of them were Private Companies, 263 Educational Centres, 13 Energy Agencies, 3 Associations, 4 Foundations and 4 City Council. 2. Activities hold during the Solar Days 2.1 Solar Days in Companies. Solar Days 2009 activities took place in 20 Private Companies. We have extended the date of celebration of the European Solar Days to have the opportunity to organize some events in the sector fair Genera. The fair is held in Madrid and the main Companies of the sector set up stands there. Many companies decided to participate in the European Solar Days in Genera. Some examples of the activities organised by the companies are: Guided tours to installations Solar system exhibitions Solar-cooker demonstration Solar information kiosks with solar brochures and consultation Information stands Consultation and information concerning solar energy Solar photography contests. Exhibit of solar collectors and solar storage devices Displays by local solar companies Solar training for the company staff 2

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4 2.2. Solar Day in Energy Associations and Educational Centres Solar Days 2009 activities took place in 13 Energy Agencies and 265 Educational Centres. It is necessary to highlight and attach importance to the Energy Agencies and to the support that we have received from them. We ask for their support of all the Spanish Energy Agencies, most of them were pleased to collaborate with this important task and they informed and encouraged all of their contacts to participate in the Solar Day. Thanks to all their support we have achieved this large quantity of events. A special recognition should be made to the Andalusian Energy Association, this Agency has set up different activities in the 8 provinces of Andalusia. Also we would like to highlight the information points in the different cities where solar theatres and animations were held. At these events solar material was given to the participants, such as t-shirts, brochures, sundials, pens, etc and they handed out a survey to asses the knowledge and use of solar energy amongst the participants. Furthermore, other activities were held such as: Guided tours to solar energy installations Webinars moderated by professionals Solar photography contests The collaboration of this Agency has been very important in celebrating days of public awareness in 250 elementary and secondary schools in Andalusia. In these celebrations children learned about the importance of solar energy and they discussed practical ways of using it. 4

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6 2.3. Solar Day in Associations and Foundations In this Edition 3 Associations and 4 Foundations participated. They have worked very closely with Educational Centres by giving speeches and providing solar material for the exhibitions. Some activities celebrated were: Stands with information concerning solar energy Community energy displays Discussions about solar energy Conferences and speeches Guided tours. 6

7 3. Press Coverage for the European Solar Days A very important part of our Solar Day campaign has been the press coverage. We have considered that if we have significant press distribution we will be able to achieve more events. We have published news articles, interviews and press releases in the local and national press, with more than 100 publications (See Appendix 2 and The press coverage has been developed in two stages: 3 months before the Solar Day date we published press releases to encourage the public to participate in the organized events, and a few weeks before the event, to remind the public once again of the event and the location. 7

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9 4. The Solar Day web page The first action we took before starting the campaign was to modify the web page. We have redesigned the existing web page to make it more attractive and easier to use. The Solar day internet site has turned out to be a affective form of communication and information platform for the participants. On the homepage of Solar Day people were able to register, including all the needed details: dates, time, types of events, location and so on. The web site also includes suggestions on possible initiatives to be organised and much more information as well as search engines for solar events in the area. After the campaign, photos were uploaded to the photo gallery. To check the success of our campaign, we installed a web counter to monitor daily the number of visitors to the web page, to track the success the website has generated. (See appendix 1) 9

10 5. The Promotional Material The organisers of local events included in the framework of the Solar Days campaign were provided for with a free package for their events. This year we have learnt from our past mistakes and we sent an appropriate amount of promotional material based on the needs of the organizers. We phoned them previously and asked for the number of participants, age, and so on. We sent posters, pencils, T-shirts, balloons, leaflets, pens, caps and sundials. 10

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12 2.4 Organizers opinion After the events we sent out a questionnaire to the organizers to evaluate their satisfaction and to gain knowledge for the next year. (See Appendix 3) Most of the organizers (80%) have sent back the questionnaire with pictures of the events. The final result has been very positive, they valued the personal treatment and attention given to each one of the events, and they felt confident to ask for everything they needed. Nevertheless we have received some criticisms suggesting that more material was needed. 3. European Solar Days II ASIT, as the organizer of the II Edition of the European Solar Day in Spain has noticed the change with regard to the last edition. Before starting to organise this edition we analysed which problems we had in the first edition and we looked for ways to avoid them. This preliminary work has made the process easier and it has helped us to achieve successful results. We started with enough time in advance in order to contact the sector agents of the Energy Agencies and to look for a sponsor. We sent a sponsor proposal to our associates and we published it on the web page (see Appendix 4), however, the current economic situation has not helped us and at the moment we only have collaborators. For the next edition our target is to find a sponsor for Solar Days in Spain and increase public awareness of the solar energy in this solar country. 12