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Project Green Smith is Making the Future of Blacksmithing Education Greener

Green Smith is a collaboration between the vocational schools Tradium in Randers, Learnmark in Horsens, and UCRS in Ringkøbing-Skjern. The project, supported by the Villum Foundation, has over the past two years worked to create a blacksmithing education program focused on the green energy transition. The result is a completely new educational curriculum and new teaching materials designed to improve the training of future blacksmiths.

Date

15 August 2024

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The blacksmithing trade has long been considered one of the so-called "dirty" professions and education programs. This is partly because it is an inherent part of a blacksmith's work to use electricity and gas, as well as steel, which is a CO2-intensive material. As a result, many blacksmiths have had diffuculty seeing how their trade could contribute to the green transition. With the Green Smith project, Danish vocational schools now have new ideas on how to address this issue.

No Green Transition Without Blacksmiths

The world relies on the processing of steel and metals every single day. At the same time, steel and metals are used in wind turbines, solar panels, and the manufacturing of biogas and district heating systems. Therefore, there is no green transition without blacksmiths, and the blacksmithing trade plays an important role in many of the climate solutions that we know of today.

'The goal of the Green Smith project is to create a blacksmith education that prepares blacksmiths for the green transition and, for example, makes it natural for a blacksmith to think sustainably, avoid waste, recycle materials, and to turn off their welding equipment when they are not in use. It’s not just about new knowledge but also about instilling a green mindset in the students,' says project leader Rebecca Lund Jepsen from UCRS.

"The Green Material"

The project included conferences with presentations, workshops, and panel debates for vocational teachers, local politicians, and business leaders. Here, participants collaboratively proposed plans for the future of the blacksmithing trade and ideas on what green competencies should be integrated into the trade to future-proof the blacksmith education in Denmark.

As part of the project, an educational curriculum was developed that naturally fits within the existing subjects of EUD and EUX blacksmithing programs and is now freely available to all Danish vocational schools.

The project has also resulted in several new teaching materials. “Know Your Welder” enables students to approach welding from a sustainable perspective, while “The Green Material” provides students with knowledge about the environmental impact of materials and how to reduce material usage and minimize the materials environmental impact.

The Villum Foundation has supported the Green Smith project with 2.2 million DKK.