Authors: Ansari Hooreain Nazrul Islam, Dr. Vipin Kumar
Abstract: The awareness of school students about renewable energy (RE) is becoming even more significant to nations that are moving towards the low-carbon development. In India, education in schools can influence young people to develop early knowledge about energy sources, climate-energy, and individual responsible actions to save energy and promote clean technologies. The paper investigates the level of renewable energy among school students in India by applying the systematic knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, source of information, and behavioral intention. This is a cross-sectional survey design that will be conducted among students (N = 600) in 8th, 9th, and 10th grades who will be sampled using the multistage sampling technique across urban and rural schools. The instrument redesigns existing measures of energy literacy and renewable-energy attitude scales to measure (i) factual knowledge of energy use and energy transitions, (ii) attitude perceived benefits and risks, (iii) attitude perceived self-efficacy to change to energy-saving behaviors, and (iv) the intention to aid renewable energy (e.g. household-based adoption and community acceptance). Findings (exemplary analysis based on the study design) are the moderate overall knowledge with enduring misperceptions (particularly regarding intermittency, grid integration, and lifecycle effects), generally positive attitudes towards solar and wind, and a strong desire to support RE when students are more self-efficacious and have more exposure to the subject in school (i.e. in eco-clubs, and project-based learning). Regression analysis indicates that self-efficacy and perceived usefulness alone are not as good predictors of RE intention as they are with demographic variables. School-level interventions, such as curriculum infusion, media integration in a local language, demonstrations, and teacher capacity building to transform awareness into informed acceptance and permanent behavior are recommended in the paper.
