The on-going field trips of YENI NESIL are turning out to be fruitful gatherings with different sectors and age groups. CEEE is acting as a bridge in time among different generations. The students, who are now taking part in the YENI NESIL curriculum, are already being recognized by different municipalities, which are establishing their own Energy Efficiency departments. They are also being recognized by international contractors and manufacturers, who are in need of qualified blue collar and green collar personnel. The field team has been collecting many stories from students, who have stopped studying as they have no hope for future jobs. The field team is visiting the classes and telling the students: “We as architects, as engineers can design the best possible projects. We can come up with the best processes with the help of governmental entities. We can finance our works. Yet, if our designs are not realized in the constructions in the proper manner with proper detailing, we cannot succeed with achieving energy efficiency. The insulation materials have to be placed properly, in order to avoid thermal bridges. The electrical connections to the equipment should be in correct order, in order to save electricity. These mean that we cannot succeed without the support of qualified technicians on site. For these reasons, complete your classes and graduate as qualified technicians, being aware of the importance energy efficiency. We need you”. Students, who have been part of these conversations are now preparing to challenges and competition arranged by CEEE.

The knowledge, which is the base of YENI NESIL has been built up in time and by taking part in some multi-stakeholder consortiums. During the EU-FP7 project NEED4B, CEEE has been collaborating on developing a methodology for low energy buildings by filtering the design, construction and facilities phases through three main components: tools for energy efficient new buildings; user requirements and monitoring and feedback. During the EU-FP7 project BRICKER CEEE has been collaborating on deep renovation of public buildings within the boundaries of public procurement procedures. During the EU-H2020 project TRIBE, CEEE has collaborated with different stakeholders in understanding and finding ways for further improving user behaviour in already occupied public buildings’ energy performance.

Involving as many stakeholders as possible and sparing sufficient time to understand the needs of stakeholders is very crucial for the success and sustainability of the project. In YENİ NESİL, CEEE has organised workshops and continuous communication has been ongoing among the stakeholders. In YENI NESIL we aimed to influence the decision-makers such as Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Energy, Istanbul Cekmekoy Municipality in collaboration with NGOs like EYODER (Energy Efficiency Management Association) and ENVER (Energy Efficiency Association of Turkey). The beneficiaries of YENİ-NESİL was the school directors, field chiefs, teachers and students. The collected information is being demonstrated in the official website of the project www.yeninesil insaatcilar.com, outreaching a larger number of people. Currently, we are scaling our efforts from one municipality to 10 municipalities, and from one country to 4 countries.

As a natural extension of YENİ NESİL, the new project dubbed NEXT-GEN aims to expand CEEE’s experience to ten provinces at the Southeastern Turkey, and later to three African countries, Mauritania, Niger and Tunisia. Such a project is not easy to plan and implement unless the university provides a fertile background. The emphasis of Ozyegin University on the concept of sustainability is one of the reasons for our success.

Ozyegin University and CEEE have signed a protocol with the Ministry of National Education and ten vocational and technical schools in Southeastern Turkey, at which students are going to be trained by teachers, who have attended the YENI NESIL Energy Efficiency Course and certified by the Ministry of National Education. CEEE is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) based website, in order to disseminate the energy efficiency culture (http://yeni-nesil-enerji-sertifikasi.net/) not only in Turkey, but also world-wide.

YENI NESIL and NEXT-GEN have already a wide-spread reputation. Several well-established secondary schools at different parts of Turkey are approaching to the Center, in order to repeat the same measures for energy efficient infrastructures and curriculums.