Vernești Technological High School: the first nZEB renovation project of Romania Eficienta in rural areas

With an investment of over 1.3 million euros, supported by OMV Petrom, the Romania Eficienta program, run by the Energy Policy Group (EPG), has modernized and energetically rehabilitated to nZEB standards the workshop building of the Technological High School of Vernești, Buzău County. It is the fourth public education unit in the country and the first in rural areas to benefit from a building with nearly zero energy consumption (nZEB), thoroughly renovated through Romania Eficienta.

The inauguration ceremony, which took place on January 21, 2025, brought together parents, teachers and community members, representatives of OMV Petrom and EPG, members of local authorities and the School Inspectorate, and students had the opportunity to step, for the first time, into the new modern and healthy building where they will carry out their practical learning activities.

Christina Verchere, CEO of OMV Petrom, present at the event, expressed her confidence in the educational and mobilizing role that the new body of workshops and laboratories will have on the students.

Learning in a building renovated to nZEB standards, the children will directly experience the benefits of energy efficiency. This will help them better understand the importance of limiting waste and will encourage them to adopt responsible behavior in resource consumption. And the effect will be one of multiplication: through them, the message of the Romania Eficienta program, promoting energy efficiency in buildings, for a better life and a cleaner environment, will reach further, to family, friends and then expand to the entire community.

The project will also have a positive effect on the attendance and school performance of the students, but also on the development of the communities in Vernești and neighboring communes. Thanks to the excellent learning conditions that the Technological High School now offers, students who want to follow a technical profile can choose to stay and study closer to home. This ensures that a larger number of students are attracted and retained in the community.

Moving from the local to the national level, the nZEB renovations carried out through Romania Eficienta can be successfully used as models of good practice for the modernization of schools in the public education system.

The energy renovation of the workshop building represented a great opportunity and a real lesson in effective collaboration for Lucica Croitoru, director of the Technological High School in Vernești.

It was a complex project, the success of which was largely contributed by the level of involvement and the unified action of all parties involved, from the local authorities and the school inspectorate to the school management and representatives of the Energy Policy Group, which coordinates the Romania Eficiente program.

“We would never have been able to access projects of such magnitude, nor would we have had the human and logistical resources to do something like this,” said the director.

Each nZEB renovation carried out through the Efficient Romania program comes with different challenges. In the case of the Vernești Technological High School, one of them was generated by the purpose of the building, which accommodates numerous installations and technical equipment used during classes.

In order for the works to start faster, even the students were ready to participate in this effort and played a very important role. They are the ones who helped the construction team dismantle the machinery and furniture from the workshops, in order to free the building. On this occasion, they demonstrated both their diligence and their technical knowledge and skills!

The second was related to the utility networks, to ensure the proper functioning of the new systems and devices with which the building was equipped. It involved allocating additional funds and obtaining new permits, but the joy of the children and teachers who will benefit from this building at European quality standards was worth all these efforts.

“The light is pleasant, the air quality, the indoor temperature, everything is optimal and it is what we wanted from the beginning”, declared Radu Dudău, EPG president and coordinator of the Romania Eficienta program.

Daniel Năstase, mayor of Vernești commune, is extremely satisfied with the results obtained and speaks with emotion and gratitude about the importance of this project for the local community and the efforts necessary to turn it into reality.

“We can compete with any school in Europe and, why not, in the world, because the standards we have here today are state-of-the-art”, says Daniela Palcău, general school inspector of Buzău county.

Romania Eficienta continues the energy renovation to nZEB standard of schools in the public education system. Within the fifth phase of the program, of which the Vernești project is part, the official sponsor OMV Petrom allocated funds of over 7.6 million euros for the modernization and energy rehabilitation of four school units selected at national level.