Today’s kids will play a vital role in making tomorrow’s world more sustainable. We’re helping to prepare them through Energy for Children (EfC), our company-wide program to support energy and environmental education for children and teenagers. Its purpose is to make kids energy literate, environmentally aware, and climate conscious from a young age.

Our EfC programs in the Czech Republic include:

• Small Energy Academy: in-school and after-school learning modules that teach kids about energy saving, occupational safety, and environmental protection
• E.ON Energy Truck: an interactive energy museum on wheels that visits schools and events around the country
• E.ON ČR Junior Cup: a series of soccer tournaments for kids under 10 years of age
• Bambiriáda: a two-day information fair that showcases a wide range of after-school activities; the E.ON stand has games designed to raise kids’ awareness of energy saving and safety.
  

Our efforts aren’t going unnoticed. In 2011 our support for after-school activities received an award from the Czech Council for Children and Youth (ČRDM), an umbrella organization consisting of nearly 100 child and youth organizations with a total of more than 200,000 members nationwide.

Good ideas, particularly ones that promote energy saving and climate protection, deserve recognition. We help provide it in the Czech Republic through the E.ON Energy Globe Award, the country’s most prestigious environmentalism award. It’s open to anyone (individuals and families, companies and entire towns) who has completed an energy-conservation project. The awards are conferred by leading figures of Czech political and cultural life at a nationally televised ceremony. All winners receive financial or in-kind support to help them develop their project further. The award is one of the ways we help raise public awareness and showcase innovative solutions for conservation and climate protection. For more information, visit the award website at energyglobe.cz (Czech only).

For over a century, transportation has been fueled almost exclusively by petroleum. That’s changing. The trend towards lower-carbon, eco-friendly propulsion systems is exciting for us because it focuses on two fuels we know a lot about: electricity and natural gas. In short, it enables to take our energy expertise to the streets. In the Czech Republic we’ve been using E.ON-branded e-scooters and e-bikes for marketing purposes and in conjunction with a green-power product. We also operate Central Europe’s largest fleet of Smart Fortwo ED electric cars and recently added an electric-powered van. We lease these vehicles along with custom-tailored charging solutions to customers like Prague Emergency Medical Services, Vodafone, the Prague Zoo, and a number of charitable organizations. We’re also active in natural-gas-powered vehicles (NGVs) by helping to establish a nationwide NGV refueling network in the Czech Republic, working with partners like carmakers VW, Mercedes, and Fiat to develop standardized product packages, and designing customized solutions for NGV fleet operators. Low-carbon mobility is creating new opportunities for our business and new opportunities to help protect the earth’s climate.