Planète Energies: Reaching Out to the Young

Franklin Boitier, Total Corporate Communications, Planète Energies Manager

Editor's note: Franklin Boitier is a member of the SPE Energy Information Committee. Send comments about this article to energyed@spe.org.

In 2005, Total launched Planète Energies, an educational program aimed at 10- to 18-year-olds and their teachers. The objective of the program is to present current and future energy options and their outlook as well as their economic and environmental impact to help young people better understand the world they live in and its challenges. The Planète Energies program includes a website (www.planete-energies.com), presentations by employees volunteering in neighborhood schools, visits to Total’s industrial sites, and partnerships in publications for youth. To be successful, the program must reach the young both at home and at school.

Students work with the Planète Energies educational material.

The website, which is not solely focused on the oil and gas industry, presents substantial information about renewable energies, coal, and nuclear energy and is supported by videos and graphics. The site is an interactive, encyclopedic venue offering numerous tools suited to the needs of both students and teachers. The website is divided into two sections, an open access area for students, available in English and French, and a password-protected area for teachers in French only. To answer students’ questions and help them with their schoolwork, including presentations and classroom projects, the open access area has four main sections: All About Energy, Features, The Mag, and My Tools. In the password-protected section, teachers can download a range of resources—worksheets, documents, photographs, graphics, articles, and reports—for use during lessons on energy-related topics. All of the material meets the criteria outlined in the French national curriculum and can be selected to suit the students’ age and the specific subject being covered.

The voluntary involvement of the employees from Total’s French-based refineries, petrochemical plants, and research centers is a key part of the program. Presentations in classrooms and school visits to different industrial sites are organized by the employees to allow young people to discover the complex mix of energies available today. The exercise is entirely voluntary and has been enthusiastically welcomed by both schools and employees.

Visits to Total refineries and research centers are not just brief tours of the sites. Teachers are given pre- and post-visit material based on specific themes, such as careers in energy. The logistics are carefully planned, and support material on the themes to be covered is sent to the teacher in advance. During visits, presentations can be given on various subjects, including Total’s business, careers in energy, and safety.

Participating as a volunteer in the program requires commitment and training. First, volunteers receive appropriate training. Second, teaching kits, in line with the French national curriculum, are prepared to support presentations. All presentations adhere to the school curriculum, and teachers are given support material so that they can explore energy issues further with their students after the visit. Topics covered during presentations include the energies of today and tomorrow (elementary school) and underground resources and oil and gas reserves (junior high school).

As part of Planète Energies, Total has formed partnerships with publishers of children’s books; Cedre, a French organization that conducts research into accidental water pollution; and ONISEP, France’s Natl. Office for Information on Education and Careers. In 2006, a comic strip about energy aimed at 10- to 14-year-olds was published and offered in Total service stations.

Many elements are employed to interest children in science subjects and to help them understand the reality of the energy industry. At first view, children and industry have virtually nothing in common, but Total has tried to provide a link between the two worlds. In the year since Planète Energies was launched, results have exceeded expectations. Two elements can be measured easily: the success of the website (through the number of visits and requests for documentation) and the requests from schools for presentations from Total’s volunteers. Although the website has not been advertised, it has registered more than 40,000 visitors a month in its first year. Posted messages—coming from different parts of the globe—are also a proof of the audience’s approval. An example of the success is the demand for school visits to the refinery at Normandie, which has registered 113 requests for visits in the neighboring schools since the beginning of the term. The program has been a great help to teachers, who generally do not have the expertise to instruct their students in energy issues.

The achievement of the project is well regarded among Total employees. Indeed, when the project is launched in a new industrial site, many employees volunteer and become “ambassadors” of the project. Moreover, through the Planète Energies training session, they can meet other colleagues with similar interests. It creates a dynamic inside the company and gives them the opportunity to share experiences. This project, beyond its educational aspects, is a real unifying program internally. Employees are proud to represent their company and proud of its involvement with a new, young audience.

Planète Energies is an ambitious program carried out by enthusiastic employees and teachers who will continue to develop educational materials tailored to the younger generation’s developing interests. Intended to be international, the program is already being used where Total operates in the United Kingdom, and will be launched in the coming months in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In the United Kingdom, for example, we are setting up tours of the St. Fergus gas terminal for local secondary schools, as well as tours of Total’s two refineries. We will tailor our program according to the local needs.

AIME Accepting Engineering Excellence Award Nominations

The American Inst. of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) Standing Awards Committees are accepting nominations for its engineering excellence awards. Nominations will be accepted through 15 June and must include a résumé and information related to the award criteria.

The award categories are listed below.

James Douglas Gold Medal—For distinguished achievement in nonferrous metallurgy.
Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal—For distinguished achievement in mining administration, including metallurgy and petroleum.
Robert Earll McConnell Award—Recognizes beneficial service to mankind by engineers through significant contributions that tend to advance the nation’s standard of living or replenish its natural resources.
AIME Distinguished Service Award—In recognition of extraordinary and dedicated service in furtherance of the goals, purposes, and traditions of AIME.
Environmental Conservation Distinguished Service Award—Recognizes significant contributions to environmental conservation.
Frank F. Aplan Award—In recognition of engineering or scientific contributions that further the understanding of the technology of coal and/or mineral processing.
Mineral Economics Award—For distinguished contributions in the advancement of mineral processing.
Mineral Industry Education Award—For distinguished contributions to the advancement of mineral industry education.

Additionally, the AIME Hoover Nominating Committee is seeking nominees for an industrywide engineering award. Established in 1929, this medal honors the civic and humanitarian achievements of engineers. It is awarded to an engineer whose professional achievements and personal endeavors have advanced the wellbeing of humankind. The committee prepares a nomination for consideration by the Hoover Board, made up of representatives from the five engineering founder societies.

The AIME Board also voted to increase the cash amount of the Rossiter W. Raymond Award from U.S. $300 to U.S. $2,500. This honor is given to an author under age 35 for the best peer-approved, single-authored paper in a member-society magazine or transactions. Papers that qualify are forwarded by AIME staff to the Raymond Committee for judging.

For additional information, see the awards/scholarships section of the AIME website at www.aimehq.org, or contact AIME Executive Assistant Michele Gottwald at 303.948.4256 or at gottwald@aimehq.org.