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

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.

Automated summary

The Austrian Education Energy Initiative ETSIT has been established to improve the energy literacy of young students and compared the effectiveness of energy education workshops to that of conventional energy audits. The results show that the workshops successfully enhance students' energy literacy and their intention to change energy consumption behavior in the future. Additionally, the paper explores the cost-benefit analysis of education and finds that workshops can compete with energy audits and contribute to saving money, resources, and the climate.