Schalksmühle, 17.05.2023. With convincing ideas, trainees have shown how they can practically implement climate protection in their companies. For six months, 45 participants from eleven companies in the region have been working intensively on saving energy and resources in their companies with the “Energy Scout” project of the South Westphalian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) in Hagen.

The winner of this year’s challenge is Team Lumberg from Schalksmühle. The apprentices Jasmin König, Michelle Münchhoff – recently awarded the prize for best industrial management assistant of the year – and Maren Schlieck convinced the jury with their project. In addition to the 1^st place, a trip to the nationwide best energy scouts award in Berlin in June is now on the agenda.

“Our trainees have gone deep into the process and can significantly reduce costs and resource consumption in production with their project. We are mighty proud of our girls,” Meike Schmidt, Managing Partner of the Lumberg Group, praised. “After the die-cutting process, protruding tinsel is melted using a hot air gun – and the trainees have tackled this energy-intensive process. In the balance sheet, we save 19,800 kWh here alone, and thus around 8.3 tons of CO₂ – and not least a good € 3,560 every year. Now it’s time for implementation; the necessary investment will be amortized in 1.5 years through the savings potential,” Schmidt explained yesterday at a small celebration in the company.

The participating trainees had previously received the necessary background knowledge in four workshops in the CCI’s annual Energy Scouts project, in order to uncover wasted energy and resources and to develop solution proposals. Subsequently, all teams looked for potential improvements in their own companies. Finally, the trainee teams of the companies compete against each other and present their results at a public event – this is also part of the project: The trainees are to learn how to communicate the results of their teamwork in a comprehensible and convincing way in front of the auditorium.

The results of the energy scouts so far are impressive: Since 2014, almost 100 trainees have taken part in the project at the CCI. Project ideas have saved 3,500 tons of CO₂ and almost two million euros in energy costs.

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