Quercus

http://www.quercus.pt/

Quercus-ANCN was founded in 31 of October 1985 and is a non profit, independent environmental non-governmental organization.

Quercus has been extremely active in the area of climate change at different levels, from public awareness to political lobby. The organization performed several studies concerning the measures for greenhouse gases mitigation in Portugal. At the policy level, some of the policies are a result of Quercus direct proposals or influence. The organization has been participating in all United Nations annual conventions for climate change and is also a member of Climate Action Network Europe.

Quercus has developed several projects mainly related to energy efficiency in buildings and changing consumer behaviour. The projects are mostly oriented to the services (enterprises, schools, hospitals) and domestic sectors (family’s houses) and consist on analyzing energy consumption and proposing measures to achieve the calculated potential reduction.

In 2004, Quercus began the EcoCasa program with the purpose of reducing energy consumption. Through this project various tools were developed to help citizens making the best energy choices. These included a website (www.ecocasa.org), a consumption simulator – the Virtual Energy House, and a game for kids – the Energy Game. In addition to these tools, the EcoCasa program has been developed with the aim of putting into practice efficiency measures for reducing energy consumption. Examples of these projects are “Ecofamilies Project” and “Euro-TopTen Project”.