INTRODUCTION HYMAC

HYMAC Project is based on the implementation of an energy Plan where the Hydrogen is the driving force of the Economy in the Macaronesian Region (Canaries, Azores, and Madeira).

These islands have a big diversity of renewable energy sources (biomass, wind, photovoltaic, hydraulic and geothermal) and are extremely dependent on conventional energetic systems; they are the perfect laboratories to develop prototype demonstrations and educational projects. The HYMAC project belongs to the transnational cooperation programme of the European Commission called INTERREG-III-B.

<> IMPLEMENTATION OF AN EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING PROGRAM IN THE SOCIETY

The education key component of the project is very important as the "Hydrogen Economy Perception in the Macaronesian Region". Its objectives are, firstly, education on the "new green fuel"; secondly, knowing the perception on hydrogen in order to discover the advantages and, above all, the disadvantages that the target has in being participants in the road towards the hydrogen economy; and thirdly, as a consequence of the previous, eliminating the existing prejudices and creating awareness of the benefits which a clean vector can present in our society, in our economy and in our environment.

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The target has been structured in several levels:

1. Not specialized public Level: an informative leaflet about the hydrogen economy has been elaborated.

2. Primary and Secondary Education Level: training and educational guidelines have been developed and have been given out to the teachers and the pupils respectively.

The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has developed a hydrogen guide, created to help interested teachers bring the exciting world of hydrogen to their students. Hydrogen and fuel cells are topics not often covered in classrooms or traditional textbooks.

The activity guides use several techniques to encourage students to document their thoughts, ideas and questions. Class discussions follow most activities, which allow students to discuss and share their thoughts and learn from each other.

10 primary schools had been selected in the Island of Lanzarote, but after the press release of the project, 53 centres of primary education of this island are requesting the educational guidelines.

The educational guides for high schools have been distributed to 2500 pupils between the islands of Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.

In addition to the educational guides, a few workshops in the Island of Lanzarote were developed for the educational centres with different practical activities related to hydrogen.

1. University education Level: a 200 hour specialization course in hydrogen technology will be given through university seminars.
2. Industrial-commercial level: a leaflet on hydrogen economy, security, production and storage has been elaborated.

This educational program includes the following concepts:

• Hydrogen is used to power cars, homes and businesses.
• Hydrogen can be made from abundant and diverse resources found in the Macaronesian.
• Technical basic design of the demonstration activities.

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