Energy Efficiency Education and Training: Australian Lessons on What Employers Want—Or Need

Alan Pears
Additional contact information
Alan Pears: Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-11

Abstract: This paper explores current approaches and future directions for energy efficiency education and training in the tertiary sector. Energy efficiency is a significant element in many jobs across the economy, with potential for substantial growth. It crosses disciplinary boundaries, as the range of skills and knowledge required by practitioners is broad, reflecting the diversity and expanding range of work roles that require energy efficiency skills and knowledge. Limitations of education and training contribute to a situation where business and consumer decision-making often involves little or no consideration of energy, so outcomes are often sub-optimal. This increases costs, environmental and social impacts and undermines productivity improvement. As the significance of energy efficiency skills and knowledge in workplaces increases, more flexible and varied education and training models are needed to allow workers to upskill, gain new skills and integrate energy efficiency into business models. The paper discusses the barriers to adoption of more comprehensive energy efficiency content in programs and presents options for inclusion. The paper concludes that, in order to capture the potential of energy efficiency to contribute to a productive, sustainable economy, appropriate teaching resources and certification must be developed and introduced across most disciplines, while employers and recruitment consultants must be informed of the benefits, so they value energy efficiency skills and qualifications.

Keywords: energy; efficiency; education; training; cross-disciplinary; employment; employers; productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/9/2386/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/9/2386/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:9:p:2386-:d:356237

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().