The ECOTRUCK project funded by ICU aimed to raise awareness among students as well as instructors about pollution reduction, water conservation, energy efficiency, and the use of Renewable Energy Technologies.

First Phase: ECOTRUCK visits to public schools.

The first part of the project,  involved six ECOTRUCK trips to eight distinct public schools

A committee composed of LSES members developed two PowerPoint presentations:
- Level 1 presentation for students in grades 7 through 9 who are between the ages of 12 and 15 
- Level 2 presentation for secondary school students who are at least sixteen years old.     

Student Reactions and Feedback

  Here’s a summary of our experience and student reactions during the trips:

Student Reactions

1. Engagement and Curiosity:
• Students were actively engaged during the EcoTruck presentation.
• They asked insightful questions about renewable energy and environmental conservation.
2. Interactive Demonstrations:
• The hands-on demonstrations (e.g., solar panels, wind turbines) captured students’ interest.
• Many students participated in the activities with enthusiasm.
3. Impactful Campaigns:
• The awareness campaigns resonated with students.
• They expressed a commitment to making positive changes in their daily lives.

Second Phase: instructors and health educators and health coordinators, online sessions

The project's second phase focused on health educators in addition to teachers in schools.

According to the terms of the contract, 40 instructors from the eight concerned schools were expected to participate in the online sessions: therefore, a maximum of 4 teachers could attend in addition to the health instructor (as requested by the ministry).

In conclusion, each and everyone who attended the sessions - students, school administrators, teachers, health educators, coordinators, and MEHE representatives — provided positive feedback. They all requested that all of the sessions be held again for a larger number of people and institutions in the academic year 2024–2025, given that it was a true success.

The project, with a very simple idea and approach without sophisticated  technical innovation aspect, consisted in providing the supply and proper operation of 26 portable solar power packs of capacity 1000 Watts with Battery  for  partial  sustainable energy alternative solution using clean energy source (PV solar) to meet urgent local needs of low income families houses, half of the units to be delivered to apartments affected by the explosion of Beirut port, the other half to apartments in Beirut suburbs mainly in marginalized areas .

The project aimed to reduce social and energy poverty by reducing electric bills of beneficiaries and familiarize those families to use sustainable energy source and be aware of solar applications and climate change effects. It aims to limit the effects of the energy starvation on the most vulnerable families which would affect the education of their children, the domestic day to day use of the families including lighting, internet, and refrigerators.

The Solar Power pack will remain the possession of LSES under a “Free Leasing “contract, allowing to control its traceability, proper operation as well as the good use and durable maintenance.

The beneficiaries have been selected according to a specific questionnaire 

In addition to the above, the project contributed in engaging the community through following actions:

• A training session for 8 technicians to be familiarized with the solar PV systems in general, components and types of installations
• A workshop for disseminating the information among selected organizations of civil society.

The duration of the project was of 11 months.

During 4 to 5 months of operation regular technical visits were planned for data collections in order to establish an evaluation document for the future.

This project has also served as a demonstration tool for encouraging the replication of this type of portable packs, with various capacities, at a larger scale within residential buildings all over Lebanon

By implementing such demonstration project in those selected apartments, the use of sustainable solar energy through the energy pack will be:

• Generate more interest and awareness in using clean energy systems at private and individual level
• Make citizens aware of reducing percentage of greenhouses gases emissions
• Create a balance between a clean environment and the well-being and human needs.

After receiving the green light for the grant in 2022 the contract was signed mid-January 2023 between LSES and Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Program (SGP) Lebanon implemented by UNDP.

Works were launched under the supervision of Mr. Adnan Melki as national coordinator from UNOPS for all day-to-day matters, and LSES Engineer Ziad Doumit as project manager.

Oxfam in Lebanon, in collaboration with LSES - Lebanese Solar Energy Society, conducted a Solar Water Pumping Technology Training in Beirut on the 7th, 8th and 9th of March, and in Chtoura, Bekaa on the 13th, 14th and 15th of March. More than 55 participants took part in the trainings, including representatives from 26 INGOS/NGOs, UN agencies, and 4 water establishments (North, South, Bekaa and Beirut).
The sessions discussed factors influencing #solarenergy production, feasibility of installing solar water pumping systems, various solar pumping design softwares, groundwater and pumping principles, and guidelines for implementing #water pumping #solar systems, among others. This initiative aims at creating an environment of coordinated effort and consideration for the inclusion of sustainable #renewableenergy sources into programme design and successful implementation of such projects.
The training in Beirut was followed with a visit to the solar water pumping station in Jiyeh area, in coordination with the Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Establishment مؤسسة مياه بيروت وجبل لبنان.
In the Bekaa, this training implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark Danida, was followed with a visit to the solar water pumping station in Kfarzabad area, in coordination with the Bekaa Water Establishment - مؤسسة مياه البقاع.

You are invited to participate to the RFQ of solar PV modules for Bakhoun Technical College

The envisaged project falls under the category of renewable energy for educational public institutions. It consists of the installation of a Photovoltaic PV Solar system on the roof of a remote public vocational technical school, Bakhoun public technical college, located in the north of Lebanon in the village of Bakhoun. The college provides technical vocational education for 900 students from both sexes including Lebanese and Syrians refugees.

The project is located in Bakhoun that falls under Union of municipalities of Dinniyeh which prepared the Sustainable Energy Access & Climate Action Plans (SEACAPs) that enables the beginning of financial mobilization for the actions that better the town or village’s mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and/or climate change adaptation.

The college currently runs on fuel engine generators and the utility grid. The college management is suffering due to the Syrian refugee crisis that has led public schools to take on two shifts in addition to the burden of electricity costs considering excessive blackouts, high diesel cost and shortage of diesel.

The technical college in addition to the municipality are willing to start a great step towards sustainable energy for improving the environment by reducing the amount of carbon emissions and for cutting energy costs.

LSES is targeting to implement a solar PV system and LED Lighting retrofit in Bakhoun Technical College following the success of the crowdfunding campaign that raised 10,000 USD through donations and online support on Live Love Beirut Platform for Bakhoun Technical College. This project aims to decrease the load consumption of the college using renewable energy technologies and to reduce pollution loads.

The details of the Request for Quotations is downloadable on the following link

An agreement is under signature between LSES and UNDP to implement PV Solar system with battery storage system at Bakhoun Technical School. LSES will have 40 000, 00 $ to complete this project.

Project will be launched in November 2021 and the opening is planned on June 2022 (7 months duration)

CHECK OUR CAMPAIGN VIDEO

The Problem: In Bakhoun, a northern Lebanese village, 900 students are at risk of dropping out of school as their only educational facility in the area can no longer sustain itself in terms of electricity and power generation. The school closure is preventable if sustainable and long term measures are urgently implemented.

• The School and its conditions: The schooling conditions in the Bakhoun Technical School are deteriorating due to the shortage in power supply. The school that runs two shifts has a high electricity demand and, in parallel, faces excessive blackouts, high diesel cost, shortage of diesel, and high maintenance cost, in addition to sound and air pollution caused by the diesel generators.  

• A community problem requires a community led solution: the inability of generating energy to sustain an educational facility is resulting in practical classes being cancelled. Children are spending excessive time in the playground and less time in the classrooms, the quality of education is degrading, the risk of drop outs is increasing, and the constant exposure to air pollution is putting the health of children at risk. The problem is a community scale one, therefore, it has to have a community led solution.

• The ‘’everyone is a winner’’ solution: LSES, in collaboration with UNDP Cedro5, project are offering their expertise and knowledge in designing and implementing energy and environmental solutions. The objective is to supply and install a small-scale Solar Photovoltaic power plant consisting of a Photovoltaic generator, inverter, fuel save controller, data logger, and auxiliary equipment at the Bakhoun School and provide training for the school management for the operation and maintenance of the installed system. 

• Four years, we break even and we give the environment a break: The project that will cost USD 20,000 and the proposed Photovoltaic system capacity of 18 KWp will cover around 60% of the power consumption and reduce around 16 tons of CO2 emissions per year. The estimated annual savings are around USD 4600 which would pay back the initial cost in around four years.

• Investment in sustainability is investing in the future: When implemented, this project will serve as a model for the design and management of small-scale Photovoltaic projects. Residents of Bakhoun and nearby municipalities will consider this project as a pilot action to be replicated in view of developing more green energy technology resources in the region.

The Pre-concept note on a Water-Energy-Agriculture pilot project in North BeKaa where LSES will be responsible of the Energy Part introducing Solar Photovoltaics applications in the agriculture field has been completed.  

Fund raising campaign is under launching

The LSES was awarded with its partners an EU grant to implement the REESTART project.  

The Project “Renewable Energy and Efficiency for Sustainable Energy Transition and reinforced trust between SMEs (Small and medium enterprises) and ESCOs (Energy Services company) is a EU project to “Promote innovation and entrepreneurship in support of Lebanon’s clean energy transition”. It is under good progress and consists in 4 main pillars:

 -Capacity Building Program to reach the Lebanese Energy Service Companies in order to train on the technical, financial and legal framework to develop own Energy Business.

-Call for proposal to select 35 SMEs in order to give them a partially subsidize for Energy Audit, and to select10 ESCOs in order to give them access to sustainable energy finance to implement the energy efficiency and renewable energy interventions

-Selection, implementation and monitoring of 6 Pilot Projects at SMEs plant.

-Creation of Lebanese federation of ESCOs

https://www.reestart.eu/Follow the project on Facebook 

YOUTUE VIDEO

Mr Walid El Baba presentation about Solar Water heating systems in Saida. Organized by Lebanese University UIT

Nowadays, our world is witnessing drastic climatic change. Indeed, global
warming is caused by Green House Gas Emissions that originate mostly from the
combustion of fossil resources such as oil and coal. Therefore, men have recently started
using new kinds of “renewable” energies such as solar energy, wind power,
hydropower, geothermal power (energy supplied by earth heat) and biomass (energy
emitted by the degradation of natural elements).

In response to this problem, the Lebanese Solar Energy Society (LSES), in
partnership with the Industrial Research Institute (IRI), has implemented an educational
project involving students in private and public schools across the Lebanese territory. In
fact a demonstration vehicle “EcoTruck” has been inaugurated in December 2012 at IRI
in the purpose of making educational school visits to disseminate the culture of
sustainability among the young generation. This truck is equipped with a clean
combustion engine and an off-grid cabin, combining elements that function with
renewable energies such as photovoltaic panels and wind turbines that generate
electricity from solar and wind energies. The truck equipment also include a solar
heating system connected to a faucet accessible to students. It will furthermore provide
educational material such as computers and LCD presentation screen, as well as
technical pamphlets adapted to every age level.

The purpose of this vehicle is therefore to make the students more sensitive to
this major issue, showing them what the alternative solutions are, and encouraging the
adoption of such solutions in students’ future or present houses.