Can Education Save Money, Energy, and the Climate?— Assessing the Potential Impacts of Climate Change Education on Energy Literacy and Energy Consumption in the Light of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive and the Austrian Energy Efficiency Act

Lars Keller, Maximilian Riede, Steffen Link, Katharina Hüfner and Johann Stötter
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Lars Keller: Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Maximilian Riede: Drees & Sommer, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Steffen Link: Fujitsu, 74172 Neckarsulm, Germany
Katharina Hüfner: Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology, Division of Psychiatry II, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Johann Stötter: Climate Change Center Austria, 1190 Vienna, Austria

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: The Austrian Education Energy Initiative ETSIT has been established as a response to the EU Energy Efficiency Directive and the Austrian Energy Efficiency Act. This paper investigates the energy literacy of its young participants, i.e., 6000 primary and secondary school students altogether, on a cognitive, affective and behavioural level, and it compares the putative energy-saving effectiveness of the workshops to that of conventional energy audits.For the current analysis, data from, 640 students who validly answered an online survey shortly after participating in one of the energy education workshops, and 353 students who validly answered the online survey approximately one year after having participated (overall n = 993) were analysed. The results indicate that ETSIT raises students’ energy literacy on a cognitive, affective and behavioural level with about three-quarters of participants claiming they will positively change their energy consumption behaviour in the future as a result of workshop participation. This is true shortly after participation in the workshops, and also at the 1-year follow-up. In its second impact perspective, this paper delivers an innovative attempt to look at education from a cost-benefit analysis. A default formula for energy audits is adopted to quantify the kilowatt hours (and thus emissions and costs) saved through workshop participation. Despite limitations, the surprising results show that such workshops can compete with conventional energy audits, and that education can, in fact, help save money, resources, and, most important of all, the climate.

Keywords: energy education; climate education; education for sustainable development; energy literacy; energy consumption; impact assessment; EU Energy Efficiency Directive; Austrian Energy Efficiency Act (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: 2022
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