Making a Difference One Goal at a Time
As an American and international school that keenly values global consciousness as an integral part of our Mission Statement, the American School of Valencia is committed to sharing the global responsibility of supporting an environmentally sensitive approach to adopting and implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). As governments, non-governmental organizations, institutions and private citizens across the globe are increasingly aware, there are a number of human impacts that are affecting our global environment. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals provide a framework to address seventeen areas of development and sustainability that are within every organization and person’s grasp to support changes and improvements in our habits and mindsets.
The SDG Implementation Plan will be comprehensive and will be implemented based on the resources the school has available to it, and it will be implemented over a series of years and across a broad spectrum of areas: curriculum, infrastructure, professional development, etc. As ASV develops its SDB Implementation Plan, we will keep our school community engaged as participants in the plan, as well as informed of its development.
As one of the school’s initial steps in addressing SDGs, the SDG framework is prominently displayed in the Atrium to raise awareness. Most recently, ASV began addressing SDG 7, Affordable and Clean Energy, with the recent installation of 218 solar panels that covers 2,000m2 of the main building’s roof. Collectively, these solar panels will produce 118 Kw “pico”, or approximately 40 percent of ASV electrical consumption.
“We are committed to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into the school’s philosophy and this can be demonstrated through many aspects, one of them is having sustainable facilities,” MS-HS Assistant Director Mr. Josep Vicent Frechina says.
However, the most important actions in the SDG plan will fall within the school’s curriculum, and this is why this year ASV will continue with a variety of learning activities involving our students to better understand SDGs and what part student’s can play. “We are aligning the syllabi of Global Studies (Grade 9) and Geography (Grade 10) with the UN SDGs. In addition to this, the English Department has planned an SDG Summit for Grade 10 students which will promote research and discussion among students,” Mr. Frechina shared.
The design of the solar panels takes into consideration both location factors (available surface, building orientation, solar radiation curves, etc.) and the energy demand. “Unlike a residential building, our energy demand coincides with the hours of the highest sun exposure. The solar panels are expected to cover around 40% of the energy required during the regular school operations,” Financial Director, Mr. Ildefonso Segura describes.
The solar panel’s performance can be seen on a screen located next to the Atrium. A diagram shows in real time the amount of energy consumed, the amount generated by the sun and the amount taken from the external power grid. “The screen covers a number of educational goals: from a scientific point of view, it shows how electricity is generated from the sun and how an installation of this type works. At the same time, it makes us more aware of energy consumption and the distance towards self-consumption,” describes Mr. Frechina.
