Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 141 (2021) 110845

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Energy education: Reflections over the last fifteen years

Rubens Alves Dias b, *, Marília Rios de Paula a, 1, Paloma Maria Silva Rocha Rizol b,
José Alexandre Matelli a, Cristiano Rodrigues de Mattos c, José Antonio Perrella Balestieri a
a
São Paulo State University, UNESP, Department of Chemistry and Energy, Av. Dr Ariberto Pereira da Cunha, 333, 12516-410, Guaratinguetá, SP, Brazil
b
São Paulo State University, UNESP, Department of Electrical Engineering, Av. Dr Ariberto Pereira da Cunha, 333, 12516-410, Guaratinguetá, SP, Brazil
c
University of São Paulo, USP, Institute of Physics, Rua do Matão, 1371, 05508–090, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Fifteen years after the publication of the article entitled "Energy Education: breaking up the rational energy use
Energy education barriers" in 2004, what were the paths taken and scientific contributions made towards a rational energy use as
Energy efficiency regards energy education? This paper aims to answer this question by collecting data on the Web of Science
Energy conservation
database to identify publications citing the aforementioned article using different levels of approach. The
Barriers
selected papers were structured in clusters utilizing software for such a purpose, which allowed organizing and
Science education
Energy policy listing reviewed works from which a cluster of keywords has been structured to identify the most frequently cited
terms. Once found, the following step was to perform a content analysis to allow organizing authorship and
contributions. During this process, the term "barriers" in the context of rational energy use was not restricted to
its class, but it was present in the analysis of other terms that constitute other classes. Energy education is
presented as one of the ways to make society more aware and active while taking actions towards rational energy
use. However, to achieve greater effectiveness of such an educational process, the human aspect requires special
attention through a clearer definition of personal values, attitude, and behaviour because of its importance for
activities aimed at energy issues.

1. Introduction has strongly been supported by actions depending on technical knowl­

In 2004, a paper entitled “Energy education: breaking up the rational
energy use barriers” [1] was published based on a doctoral thesis [2]. At
that time, the beginning of the 21st century, the world was still affected
by two oil crises during the 1970s, which has compelled institutions to
develop energy conservation programs as a strategic approach to save
energy, natural resources, and mainly funds. Actions aiming energy
conservation took into account demand-side management (DSM),
rebating programs for those who saved energy, media marketing, elec­
trical sector regulations (e.g. privatizations during the 1990s), among
others [3]. In such a scenario, education has always been pointed out as
an efficient and inexpensive means of intervention, since it would
depend on changing individuals’ values regarding energy use [3].
However, its complexity lies in the challenge to be overcome, since the
educational aspects of rational energy use have normally been over­
estimated by governments and industrialists.
Technical solutions for energy conservation or rational use of energy
edge and investments, such as better use and more appropriate adjust­
ments of equipment, the partial or total substitution of devices and
technology upgrade. Nonetheless, a common element of these aspects
lies in the individual’s actions that are sometimes aligned or misaligned
with technological intentions to use energy rationally. Individuals could
eliminate or create barriers to the efficient use of energy [4]. These
barriers could be found at institutions, in the market, or in organizations,
and most of which depend on individuals’ decisions, which are based on
different personal values, interests, skills, and abilities. From this point
of view, Weber [4] concluded that “energy consumption belongs to the
realm of technology, energy conservation to the realm of society”.
Energy education became an object of study when a few kinds of
research considered its importance as regards its insertion into the
educational system curriculum. Consequently, energy education has
been introduced into institutions, such as elementary schools and uni­
versities in the early 1990s [5,6]. However, the authors had a broad
perspective by stating that “man’s future prosperity depends upon the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: rubens.alves@unesp.br (R.A. Dias).
1
Dom Bosco Educational Association, Av. Cel Prof. Antonio Esteves, 1, 27,523–000, Resende, RJ, Brazil.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2021.110845
Received 1 May 2020; Received in revised form 26 January 2021; Accepted 14 February 2021
Available online 22 February 2021
1364-0321/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R.A. Dias et al.
quality of energy education provided for all citizens, as well as the
progress made by scientists and engineers in devising and applying less
polluting, more energy-efficient technologies” [5]. They also stated that
even though energy education has been presented as an important way
to save energy and individuals have been educated for such a purpose,
actions towards energy conservation still fail. It became increasingly
clear that the behavioural complexity of humans would require more
than technical approaches, and that a deeper psychological and educa­
tional analysis of the rational energy use is necessary.
Deep observations of humans’ contradictions drive questions about
how humans make rational statements and behave against them. This
question of human behaviour is recurrent in Psychology, where a few
studies have been conducted to understand this type of conflict, e.g.
some investigations revealed psychological elements that either is for or
against actions aimed at rational energy use. Concepts such as cognitive
dissonance and invisibility of energy flows [7] helped to understand the
contradictions in human behaviour and limitations in perceptions
involving abstract physical quantities, such as energy. These mis­
understandings lead to different consequences such as the individuals’
lack of awareness of how much energy they have consumed through
using their devices, appliances or vehicles, thus underestimating their
actual necessity for energy [7,8].
Energy conservation is usually presented as a binomial conflict be­
tween technical solutions to save energy and the human uncertain and
contradictory behaviour that makes individuals misuse energy. To face
such a conflict, this paper starts from two fundamental principles: i)
considering energy systems, humans are the centrepiece of what these
systems were built for; ii) education would be by far the most appro­
priate way to overcome such a binomial conflict.
In addition to introducing the educational system as part of the en­
ergy system, an educational theoretical framework that is particularly
based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory that sheds light on several
aspects of the learning process and introduces aspects of human
communicative interaction was proposed [1,2]. Vygotsky highlighted
the importance of the concept of mediation to understand relations
between communication symbols and meanings within society [9].
Vygotsky introduced the concept of Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD), which reveals the development of individuals’ awareness of their
actions in society through the learning process. It expresses the tension
between the individuals’ pre-existing knowledge (actual development
level) and their potential knowledge (potential development level), i.e.
the tension between what they can do on their own (actual development
level – ADL) and what they can do together with another individual,
typically a more capable peer (potential development level – PDL).
Learning is characterized by a continuous interaction between in­
dividuals and their more capable peers to increase their PDL, thus
raising their ADL. From this point of view, learning is not only the
acquisition of some technical or scientific knowledge but a change in the
individual’s manners; i.e. a change not only in their behaviour but also
in their system of personal values.
Based on such an educational theoretical framework, it was possible
to conceive a model for energy education that considers technical as­
pects as human objects of learning that could modify their actions to­
wards energy conservation. This approach has brought about favourable
conditions to develop new personal values, attitudes, and behaviour
aiming at energy conservation [1,2].
Fifteen years after the publication by Dias et al. [1], this article has
been contributing to other researchers who have appropriated/grasped
the importance of energy education to rational energy use. Considering
the repercussions of such publication, referred to as ‘the senior paper’
throughout the text, the objective of this present article aims to reflect
on its unfolding consequences in the literature to understand the impact
that such educational ideas had on the field of energy education and its
rational use.
Energy education and energy conservation are related, but depend­
ing on the approach the results are temporary and maybe depend on
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 141 (2021) 110845
some factors like curriculum, timing, and duration of the education
treatment [10]. However, teaching based only on technical aspects is not
enough, because the human dimension is something complex and it
needs an educational theoretical framework and education psychology
elements for lasting results [11].
In Nigeria, the importance of energy education was discussed in
research involving the people’s perception of sustainable development,
and it was concluded that “there is a generally low level of energy ed­
ucation among the participants” [12]. Once again, a statistical and
analytical approach was developed and relevant appointments were
done showing barriers and what is required to overcome them. How­
ever, aspects such as personal values, attitudes, and behaviour were not
fully explored, but only mentioned. In the same context, another
research suggests five recommendations, one of them being social
participation in the context of renewable energy-based societies [13].
Social participation involves children and young people with strategic
actors in science and sustainable policy, constructing an educational
partnership [13].
2. Methodology: energy conservation programs assessment
To evaluate the impact of ‘the senior paper’ [1] in literature, some
general research questions have been posed: what has been published
about energy consumption education based on the concept of “energy
education” proposed there? What are the contexts? What contributions
have been made according to its initial proposition?
Bibliometric analysis is generally developed by searching relevant
published articles selected according to specific keywords to define the
reference network. As the investigation of this research intends to
analyse the citation network specifically of ‘the senior paper’, an ori­
ented literature review has been carried out in a couple of stages. The
first one was performed by seeking publications citing ‘the senior paper’,
which has been classified according to their relevance whose levels, as
regards their approach, refer to in-depth, partial or superficial citations.
Publications specifically about a given aspect discussed in that work
were considered extensive; partial ones were those when the article was
cited along with 2–3 references quoting the same subject; and, superfi­
cial ones were those when the article was cited along with 4 or more
references. This first stage brought new insights about the first two
research questions.
The second stage refers to the creation of clusters identified in a
literature review of 59 publications that cite the referred work. To create
a keyword cluster, the software CitNetExplorer [14] has been used as a
tool for visualizing and analyzing the citation networks of articles. The
CitNetExplorer allows citation networks to be imported directly from
the Web of Science database or a specific publication file (structured in
the first stage) to reveal some connections among articles. Its result
allowed generating a list of references for comparison purposes, orga­
nized according to the statistical concept of the cluster.
Two clusters were identified, given that four articles do not belong to
any of them. One of which comprises articles written by Stern [8] and
Weber [4] as catalysts to various references citing them, including ‘the
senior paper’. The first couple of articles are relevant due to being based
on ‘the senior paper’, which advanced towards considerations about
introducing the educational system into the energy policy of a nation. In
the second cluster, some articles only cite ‘the senior paper’.
After data collection, in a third stage, reviews were made (guided
reading) from the selected references, and then a keyword cluster was
created to identify those associated with the main topics discussed by
‘the senior paper’. Afterwards, they have been translated and classified
according to their relevance as follows: barriers, efficient use of energy,
behaviour, energy education, research, and programs. However, such key­
words have variations or synonyms that are related to its context, as
organized in Table 1. Due to the polysemy of words, other meanings
have been identified along with reviews that could be used as synonyms
of the listed keywords (Table 1); the words highlighted in bold are
R.A. Dias et al.
Table 1
Relation between keywords and their synonyms and variations.
Keywordsa Synonyms considered and similar wordsa
Barriers Difficulties, challenges, and limitations.
Efficient Use of Energy efficiency, rational energy use, energy conservation,
Energy energy saving, energetically efficient, and conscientious energy
use.
Behaviour Attitudes, personal values, lifestyle, actions, and stance (certain
works do not make a distinction between personal values,
attitude, and behaviour).
Energy Education Educational system, education, educational aspects involving
energy, learning, pedagogical approach, educational level,
energy literacy, educational process, and educational programs.
Research Studies, interviews, experiences, records, and data collection.
Programs Energy Policy, Policies, structures, regulations, tools, and
strategies.
a
For the sake of clarity, the keywords and similar words will be highlighted in
italic from here to the end of the text.
elements discussed in ‘the senior paper’. With this, the last research
question was then posed.
The following subsections are organized according to the keywords
by taking into account their synonyms and similar words. It is mainly
aimed to identify its use in the selected articles from an analysis of its
reviews. Through a content analysis [15], references to ‘the senior
paper’ have been read regarding questions about the context examined
in each article, thus summarizing their content analytically; it was
sought to discuss the degree of depth in which the information collected
from such reference has been used in each article through its classifi­
cation as for their possible approaches; subsequently, once reviews were
collected according to the identified clusters, their set was sorted out
into keyword clusters to define those that best characterized them.
To better identify the concepts related to each topic, the respective
authors are highlighted at the beginning of each subsection, followed by
a synthesis that describes the main elements collected from their works
related to the keywords.
2.1. Barriers
The topic of barriers present in initiatives focused on rational energy
use is often found in recently published articles [16–23].
Initiatives aimed at rational energy use are still faced with several
barriers, even concerning economic attractiveness and technical solu­
tions compatible with several problems related to energy efficiency.
Within human organizations, several elements hinder the overcoming of
such barriers, which range from lack of time to their implementation to
prioritization of other needs. By considering energy planning, it is
noteworthy that the administrative mechanisms that can stimulate or
impose restrictions on initiatives are rather contradictory in some cir­
cumstances [17,18]. This is the case in which an individual can partic­
ipate in working towards a solution but fails due to not determining the
identity or personal values before the community – a possible example
could be of someone who pays for the electricity provided and assumes
legitimacy in the way of using it, wastes it in a period of rationing, and
does not take into account a collective interest aimed at saving natural
resources.
Through semi-structured interviews involving those who are inter­
ested in rational energy use, non-technical barriers have been identified
as being financial, social, and concerning governance [20]. The lack of
awareness by social groups concerning efficient use of energy is also
indicated as an extenuating circumstance to develop initiatives aimed at
mitigating waste. This scenario is even more complex when considering
participation by the elderly population, mainly due to their ingrained
consumption habits and their typical difficulty in keeping up with the
advancement of technology [21,22].
It is also worth mentioning that, in this context, the lack or incor­
rectness of information is one of the main problems that cause several
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 141 (2021) 110845
shortcomings in the communication of energy policies. To be aware of
posed challenges, factors such as lack of information, operational as­
pects, economic issues, and a potential commitment to the progress of
experiments hinder initiatives aimed at rational energy use, which
might even occur in research laboratories [19]. In the latter case, there is
a lack of information on selecting optimal ways to use energy in certain
research laboratories concerning the physical conditions of electrical
installations, which is because those who work in these places are afraid
that experiments might not work or require some alteration, thus they
opt to keep the installations obsolete and inexpensive for energy effi­
ciency [19].
2.2. Efficient use of energy
The efficient use of energy is a term that has been commonly cited in
articles since the two oil crises in the 1970s. The term attracts a lot of
attention due to its use in discussions that reveal strategic aspects
regarding the preservation of natural resources, energy, and the envi­
ronment. Besides, it is often found in discussions about education, as it
can be observed in the recent literature [21–31].
It is possible to observe in analysed articles that efficient use of energy
is a topic that has been causing mounting concern on a global scale,
ranging from developing countries to developed ones, e.g. Sweden,
when there is a possible reduction in energy consumption [23,24].
The topic approach becomes more relevant when the problem of
climate change starts being associated with transformations of energy
resources. An increase in greenhouse gases emission and an incentive to
use renewable energy sources are topics focused on a debate about the
efficient use of energy. Such a debate accurately reflects in technological
advancement in several production areas through the provision of
electronic appliances and devices having higher energy efficiency
[24–31], thus requiring replacement of obsolete technologies – which is
the case of a halt in the production of incandescent light bulbs, which
have been replaced by compact fluorescent lamps and, subsequently, by
LED light bulbs [32].
The efficient use of energy is also the topic of public policies, which can
mobilize collective efforts to improve the use of available energy. An
example of such is the case of South Korea, in which the Government
provides technical support through mandatory regulations, mainly to
organizations having scarce resources [27].
The multidisciplinary feature of "rational energy use" implies in ap­
proaches that go far beyond essentially technical issues, because several
other factors, especially social and political issues, are crucially impor­
tant for decision-making processes in democratic societies.
2.3. Behaviour
Considering the studies under investigation, the term behaviour,
despite being common, is not clearly defined. The absence of a clearer
meaning of such an important word can generate difficulties, both in
understanding the proposals and studies on rational energy use and in
taking intervention actions in society towards this purpose. Nonetheless,
the term behaviour has been often used [16,17,20,21,23–27,30,32–40].
It is possible to observe in the analysed articles that procedures to
human behaviour are strategic by taking rational energy use into ac­
count. This means that such approaches significantly affect the success
of initiatives aimed at better harnessing natural resources in energy
transformations, as well as their consequences to the planet. The
greatest challenge pointed out herein is the difficulty in changing
behaviour when it is part of a conception of unlimited natural resources
(historical view of common sense) into a realistic sense of awareness of
energy constraints (renewable versus non-renewable sources) and im­
pacts on society, economy and the environment [17,18,21].
On the other hand, it is commonly said that changing behaviour to­
wards energy conservation is the solution to rationally use energy. Such
contradictions require a greater understanding of human psychology
R.A. Dias et al.
when it comes to the consumption of goods and services, especially
concerning a differentiation between personal values, attitude, and
behaviour, as they comprise the complexity of cultural, family and
geographic factors, among others, whose knowledge is necessary to
interfere to make changes in the patterns of human energy consumption
[22,24–27]. Within this psychological dimension, it should be empha­
sized that certain human actions arise from habit (frequent practice),
however, some are carried out conscientiously and justifiably, which are
supported by personal values acquired during the individual’s educa­
tion, and others that are elicited by conditioning, thus affecting behav­
iour by punishment (e.g. fines and behavioural restriction) or awards (e.
g., discounts and praise) [33–41].
2.4. Energy education
Energy education has been consolidating itself as a research area since
the end of the twentieth century by publications that allow improving
approaches and strategies in both social and productive contexts [17,20,
23–27,29–32,34–36,38,39,41–52].
According to this set of references, educational processes in the
context of rational energy use are usually presented as the most effective
forms of awareness and subsequent change in behaviour towards the use
of resources as well as environmental aspects. The proposals for strate­
gies are quite broad, ranging from early school years to professionals
linked to the means of production and research.
Energy education allows overcoming discontinuities between pro-
conservation thinking and actions leaning towards the efficient use of
energy, thus sophisticating the individual’s scientific literacy and
assigning meaning and tangibility to a concept as abstract as energy.
Thereby, a school environment becomes a space aimed at reflection
about energy issues, on fostering the individual’s values concerning
household [21–23,31–33]. However, public policies must assume the
role of inducers concerning guidelines, incentives, educational training
of professors, managers, among others, aiming not only to improve ac­
tions, but mainly to provide support in overcoming barriers within in­
stitutions, public and private organizations, and society as a whole
[25–28].
Due to its multidisciplinarity, scientific initiation is a very important
aspect of energy education when regarded broadly. Gradual complex
thinking, especially if started from the early school years by respecting
the cognitive conditions of each age group, is a decisive factor to
broaden the individual’s scientific literacy [38–41]. Furthermore,
imparting information towards energy conservation enthusiastically or
incorporate content into one or more disciplines is not enough to
educate society about energy aspects, but rather to understand how to
teach individuals and how they learn, as it is grounded on several
learning theories.
2.5. Research
In the formulation of public policies, a constant search for subsidies
in decision-making constitutes a basic premise in governance actions, in
which research is the means of prospecting, hypothesis testing, mea­
surement, and control. Some references offer approaches and techniques
aimed at an adequate interpretation of educational intervention in the
context of rational energy use [16,19,20,24–26,28,30–32,34,35,39,41,
42,50,53–56].
It is inferred from the analysed texts that scientific research processes
are fundamental for understanding both technological and social ele­
ments of the efficient use of energy. Data and information subsequently
acquired from researches allow profiling, establishing scenarios, and
developing strategies within the concepts of energy planning, intending
to establish references that support project design and control mecha­
nisms for the projects themselves. Investigative works are elaborated
mainly in universities, research centres, and governmental agencies,
whose data collections are mostly performed through surveys and
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 141 (2021) 110845
interviews; information items are the results of quantitative and quali­
tative statistical analyses through the screening of specialists [26–29,
50–53]. In general, research carried out in the field of energy efficiency
identifies the main challenge to be overcome – its barriers – and the most
promising tool for such – education.
2.6. Programs
From an operational standpoint, initiatives aimed at a rational en­
ergy use require structures (programs) that support actions based on
scientific criteria, which are outlined in programs of different levels of
comprehensiveness [16,17,20,21,29,32,33,37–39,45,46,48,53,54,57,
58].
In the view of these authors, energy planning is faced with tensions in
the social sphere that involve "how it has been until now" and "how it
should be from now on". The research results constitute the foundations
for policy proposals to stimulate new initiatives and training programs,
support structures during project implementations, draft regulations,
offer investments funds and research financing, offer technical and sci­
entific support to the formal education system, develop educational
programs and provide decision-makers with technical and scientific
support.
Fig. 1 illustrates the scheme presented in Dias et al. [1] but modified
in this work to consider the clusters’ keywords previously presented.
Fig. 1 is structured to identify the participation of the educational system
in changing the individual behaviour and the external factors in the
energy context. Educational System, Energy Policy, and Attitude and
Behaviour were keywords described in the original publication and are
highlighted in blue ellipses in Fig. 1; Energy Efficiency, Research, and
Barriers, in blue letters, are the clusters’ keywords added to the original
figure. The barriers permeate all stages of the process and are repre­
sented by the grey plane.
3. Personal values, attitude, and behaviour
From the preceding clusters’ keywords, attitude and behaviour (as
well as personal values) are severely influenced by the barriers, consid­
ering that they are centred in people – and people act not only rationally,
but most of the time according to their emotions. Personal values, atti­
tude, and behaviour are the three psychological variables along the nat­
ural sequence of events towards a strand of thought towards action. The
first couple of psychological variables are abstract and the last one
concrete (i.e. observable) and all require definitions and explanations
aiming to achieve an objective and/or goal conscientiously and justifi­
ably in the context of rational energy use. Table 2 summarizes the as­
sumptions for characterizing the three psychological variables.
The conceptual model designed by Homer and Kahle [59] has been
used by several authors to work out the question concerning the chain
"values → attitude → behaviour" [60,61]. Thereby, some of its concepts
have been recalled here, as follows. Values are constructs that an indi­
vidual (or society) assumes as personal (or collective) truths by identi­
fying something good in them, thus acquiring an important meaning in
their life and guiding their actions and decisions. Values are acquired by
personal experiences, the influence of family, friends, or school educa­
tion, among others. Personal beliefs demonstrate how an individual
perceives reality - two individuals can have identical religious values,
but distinct beliefs that lead them to profess their faith differently.
Homer and Kahle [59], by citing several authors, establish that
values constitute a lasting set of beliefs about the chosen standards of
manners or final states throughout a continuous process to assess their
importance. Values guide individuals as to what situations to be
involved in and what to do in such situations, thus becoming criteria for
judgment, preferences, and choices. A list of values is also suggested,
consisting of: the sense of belonging; excitement; fun and pleasure in
life; warm relationships with others; self-realization; respect; the sense
of accomplishment; assurance; and self-respect.
R.A. Dias et al.
Fig. 1. The original figure of Dias et al. [1] considering the identified clusters’ keywords.
Table 2
Interpretation of psychological variables: personal values, attitude, and
behaviour.
Psychological variables Meaning
Personal values Concepts, thoughts, and ideas.
Attitude Will and impulse towards accomplishment.
Behaviour Action observable by third parties
Attitude is a tendency of individuals to conscientiously react, either
favourably or unfavourably, to a symbolic objective or representation
[2]. According to Homer and Kahle [59], attitudes are the product of a
variety of factors, including an individual’s set of underlying values.
Individual values work simultaneously to influence the development of
attitudes; internal values should directly influence attitudes, while
external values will have an opposite direction.
The behaviour might be a way to act towards a certain attitude [62].
Homer and Kahle [59] conclude their work by stating that it is doubtful
whether a single factor can be justified as the determinant of behaviour,
but knowledge about possible influences on specific sets of behaviour
may prove useful.
A discontinuity between how often proposals and/or speeches and
thoughts and/or personal values of those who are trying to communicate
can be accountable for barriers that arise in the implementation of ac­
tions aimed at public policies. For instance, the presentation of a pro­
posal for a rational energy use program made by an energy expert to a
decision-making agent; if the latter does not have cognitive and affec­
tive elements concerning the subject and the expert is not careful enough
to adjust the speech according to real facts about the situation, there will
most likely be one or more breakdowns in communication, which may
result in making the proposal impractical.
The presentation of elements of public policy in a contextualized way
for depicting ideas and facts, i.e. considering the real world as being
close to individuals’ experiences, favours the understanding of what is
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 141 (2021) 110845
intended to be accomplished. During contextualization, new sets of
personal values are presented, which can broaden the existing ones or
replace those that do not account for understanding and explaining the
situations encountered in the daily life of societies.
In the psychological dimension, aligning personal values with so­
cially and scientifically proved knowledge means enhancing behaviour.
The internalization of concepts that enhances personal values improves
the individual’s form of thinking (i.e. it enhances their ability to reflect
on systematic knowledge) and offers assurance in mobilizing efforts
towards accomplishing something (attitude; will), thus resulting in
behaviour aligned with the need to improve the use of energy and energy
systems present in society. The educational process is one of the key
elements in this context.
To illustrate such an issue, consider an individual facing an unusually
high consumption of electricity in his/her home in a given month. Since
this individual has enough knowledge to perform this analysis (personal
values), he/she identifies the refrigerator as the cause of high electricity
consumption. However, the diagnostic alone is not enough to solve the
problem; something must motivate the individual to act towards change
(attitude, will). Actions towards a rational energy use will only be
effective when the individual, convinced that their knowledge supports
its diagnosis, replaces the refrigerator or takes it to repair (behaviour).
Most likely, the turning point is the set of knowledge that supported the
personal values of the considered individual.
In this way, it is pertinent to formulate the following statement:
“People are part of the problem but are mostly part of their solution as
well”. The human aspect, often poorly evaluated or disregarded, rep­
resents one of the major variables in public policies. Individuals’ actions
in a certain public policy (e.g. a program towards rational energy use)
determine the results through a set of goals by monitoring and con­
trolling successes and errors and respecting socio-cultural aspects. Given
the need to improve certain knowledge, interventions should be per­
formed in a conscientious and justified way, focusing on how people
comprehend reality.
R.A. Dias et al.
Two situations illustrate the importance of aspects concerning the
human aspect. The first is the case of solar heaters in Minas Gerais
(Sapucaias project – Contagem – MG) whose equipment, accessories,
and manpower were offered by an electric power utility to a certain
community in need. At first, individuals were not interested in its
installation because it was announced that the system would operate
using “solar radiation” which may cause cancer, as far as the community
was concerned; once the term was modified to “sunlight”, there was
acceptance by the target public. After some time, for the sake of the
utility’s control, a visit was made on-site and, for the company’s sur­
prise, 1/3 of the solar heating systems had been sold; the community was
very poor and the price of solar heating systems represented something
significant to provide income to the family budget [63]. The second
example is related to a public hearing in Paraty city, Brazil, in which the
electrification process of a local isolated community (in Portuguese,
caiçara) was under discussion. For such a purpose, an interdisciplinary
research group studied the community by the end of the year 2000
aiming at understanding and performing group dynamics in that com­
munity so that local culture was not compromised by electricity supply,
while at the same time enhancing their quality of life [64].
4. Contributions of energy education to energy planning
Considering the preceding discussion, some relevant aspects
regarding the energy policy of a country have been evidenced as regards
a rational energy use, among which the following can be highlighted:
- An actual understanding of populations regarding the efficient use of
energy
Individuals usually understand the concept of energy vaguely and
indirectly, such as by the amount of electricity consumed and invoiced
in the household (kWh) or by the amount of fuel (litres) in their vehicles
at the time of supply. In both examples, energy is not the object of
attention, but rather the amount of money paid for it, i.e. whether it is
expensive or inexpensive.
As with other commodities, energy is associated with its amount of
consumption, whose understanding and awareness regarding its use will
determine whether it may be harnessed or not, thus allowing different
forms of use, from spendthrift activities to those considered efficient.
However, this description is not trivial because there must be a large
amount of knowledge on account of different levels of abstraction
involved in the concept of energy and its transversality, which are
related to transformations of natural resources, environmental impacts,
geopolitics and market interests, among others.
- The barriers encountered in actions aimed at the efficient use of energy
due to different interests, otherwise their disregard
In situations involving barriers to taking actions aimed at the efficient
use of energy, personal behaviour is always a common element. These are
composed of two dimensions, one of which is psychological (concerning
individuals’ skills) and the other is postural (related to their abilities).
When the levels that compose these two dimensions are somewhat
weakened, difficulties arise in carrying out proposals for efficient use of
energy, even if they are technically viable and economically attractive.
Why and how does that happen? Although there are no easy answers
to such questions, it is safe to affirm that an individual’s behaviour
(concrete and observable through their actions) is the end-result of a
psychological process that is developed from personal values (abstract
and unobservable), which depend on the social environment, acquired
knowledge (which varies according to educational processes and can be
either beliefs or systemized knowledge) and from life experiences
(failures and successes). This set of interpersonal elements provides an
individual with a certain form of thinking in the face of situations
involving energy use, thus allowing a certain choice that can or cannot
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be energetically efficient.
The connection between behaviour and personal values occurs
through attitude (abstract and unobservable), which can be understood
as the willingness to turn thought into concrete ideas (action observable
through behaviour). In the context of rational energy use, if conceptual
elements about energy and its use have meaning in the set of personal
values (systemized knowledge) and if stimuli are provided so that ideas
are put into practice, it is expected that behaviour towards energy con­
servation is significantly possible.
- Energy education as a necessary condition for overcoming barriers to the
efficient use of energy in the context of energy planning
An elementary understanding about the concept of energy is ac­
quired indirectly because it is an abstraction whose perception is due to
its effect, i.e. it depends on the ability to articulate thought in deriving
meaning from understanding certain symbols (such as writing and
speech) associated with the use of natural resources within a socioeco­
nomic context involving the environment and technology. Therefore,
energy education is transversal and enables introducing a few contents of
disciplines into a formal teaching environment (schools), as well as in
activities of scientific dissemination in informal teaching environments
(museums and science fairs).
‘The senior paper’ [1] highlighted, at that time, the importance of
energy planning education aimed to overcome barriers and take actions
towards rational energy use and challenges remain current fifteen years
afterwards, despite an increased amount of research on the matter.
Schmidt and Weigt [65] state that "as end-consumers often do not
consider energy as a relevant aspect of products they purchase or ac­
tivities they undertake, our current energy system is the outcome of
consumption that is only partially accounting for energy efficiency con­
siderations or sufficiency aspects". It is observed, therefore, that the
proposals and initiatives in the context of energy efficiency are still
heavily linked to the concept of system (complex structure in which
people interact towards a particular purpose) because of
stimulus-response relationships (behaviourist approach). The qualita­
tive aspect of the educational process seeks to assign meaning to energy
consumption and its use conscientiously and efficiently (cognitivist
approach) aimed at people. In other words, the educational process aims
to improve, replace, and/or organize personal values based on system­
ized knowledge.
By considering the example of the electricity invoice in a contextu­
alized approach to understanding the electrical system, various concepts
and elements of the electrical sector would be more evident to the
consumer. From the energy consumed, it could be explained to the
electrical system users what are the primary sources of energy, gener­
ation, transmission, and distribution of electricity, resulting in the final
use of electricity by residences, which involves text interpretation,
mathematics, physics and biological sciences (transversality).
This approach arouses individuals’ interest (there are stories to be
told and, when well-narrated, people would enjoy listening to them),
because once a series of isolated pieces of knowledge are integrated, it
allows turning an electricity invoice, from something that is only asso­
ciated with payment, into a broader reality in which previously unno­
ticed things are perceived (‘invisibility of energy’), as discussed by
Costanzo et al. [7], and thus become susceptible to interaction (scientific
literacy, social work activities and citizenship). Sovacool and Brown
[66] present this question relating to energy and society, values, and
beliefs. For better clarifying how people take their decisions regarding
energy, the concept of ‘technological agnosticism’ is stated along with
five other postulates [66].
As a closing remark to this section, it is quite apparent that many
things happened in terms of contribution to the energy education since
2004, mainly in terms of “what to teach”, “how to teach”, “with what to
teach”, “how to measure what was taught”, energy policies, new tech­
nologies, and other important approaches. However, the (old) barriers
R.A. Dias et al.
involving energy use are (still) present. The core of this discussion is the
complex psychological dimension of individuals, particularly their grasp
on energy and its efficient use. About fifteen years later, the challenge in
2020 is (still) to overcome these barriers, and energy education con­
tinues to be one of the best ways to face them.
5. Energy conservation improvement from an educational
framework
Generally speaking, the concept of energy is very abstract, which is
particularly due to how it is addressed in Science education. The iden­
tification of the chain of activities and phenomena that allow the pro­
duction and distribution of energy are not addressed comprehensively in
elementary education, except for its more abstract aspects, such as its
mathematical forms or experimental aspects that do not always depict
people’s everyday lives. This hinders the understanding of the enormous
dependence of human activity on energy consumption. Literature has
associated the need for change in understanding energy processes with
the term “energy literacy” [67], whose main objectives are that in­
dividuals must know "how energy is used in everyday life" and under­
stand "the impacts that energy production and consumption have on all
spheres of environment and society" [68].
Thus, it becomes vital to contextualize the concept of energy so that
people start dealing with the topic not as an external problem, but as an
inherent problem of their own lives. To assign meaning to the topic, a
few learning theories (particularly the sociocultural and historical the­
ories) indicate that the educational process, at any level of education, is
based on people’s actual knowledge towards their possible degree of
knowledge. From this teaching-learning perspective, this development is
through contextualizing concepts concerning elements belonging to the
target communities [69], such as the public hearing in Paraty. It would
consist of one of the main strategies to improve the understanding of the
energy sector and how people’s lives are closely linked to it. From such
perspective, it would be important for programs to focus on the rational
energy use through an energy planning policy and make qualitative
progress in the use of learning theories that allowed the system users to
become rational partners in the use and preservation of energy
resources.
Some learning theories allow a better appreciation, selection, and
chaining of content (concepts and information) aimed to teach an effi­
cient use of energy by considering not only cognitive (know), but also
emotional (enjoyment) and practical (action) aspects [35,60,70]. From
the perspective of sociocultural interactive teaching, the educational
process consists of providing education that assigns meaning to what
were only indecipherable signs, e.g. units of measure, technical terms,
and symbolic representations. As they acquire meaning, they become
part of people’s set of knowledge, thus allowing them to take more
conscientious and perennial actions towards rational energy use.
It is in the cultural context, concerning family, teachers, friends, and
more experienced people (more capable peers), that the main ways in
which problems experienced by the communities are addressed and
tools that should be used to solve problems are defined [71]. Archer
et al. [72], for instance, concluded that “children’s aspirations and views
of science careers are formed within families, and these families play an
important, albeit complex, role in shaping the boundaries and nature of
what children can conceive of as possible and desirable and the likeli­
hood of their being able to achieve these aspirations”. This means that
individuals’ participation as more capable partners can provide ele­
ments (information or forms of thinking) that influence decision-making
towards the inadequacy of certain tools for problem-solving. Thus, the
possibility of identifying new tools with the aid of more capable peers
allows changing attitudes in the face of an old problem which requires
new solutions.
The most capable peers allow less capable individuals to identify
values for their community, which were previously unknown to them.
This cultural knowledge allows people of various age groups to
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 141 (2021) 110845
acknowledge their participation in social problems that previously
seemed not to concern them. This process of appropriation of the social
problem as a personal problem indicates the acquisition of broader
collective values, which is an initial step towards transforming the social
practices of these individuals, for example towards rational energy use.
Considering that all pedagogy is grounded in learning psychology,
rational energy use programs should take into account the psychological
aspects in the way that people relate to elements associated with the
efficient use of energy. By taking this into account, it means that they will
consider that personal values may be in contradiction with social values
(of the community), which can align or oppose the pro-conservation
initiatives of energy [73]. It is in this area and in its relation to the
practice of people that the emergence of barriers can be identified. For
this work, it is in this perspective – that of considering the psychological
aspects of individuals in their relationship with society – that the topic of
energy must be extensively explored because ideas and values found in
this stage will influence every social process that is expected to result in
a rational practice within an energy context.
Considering the importance of the educational process for social
transformation, it is essential to evidence the importance of a school
system to establish a degree of social development that allows changes
in attitudes towards the rational energy use. A school environment, at its
various levels, constitutes one of the privileged spaces for reflection and
social intervention, because it is a place where individuals have greater
chances of generalizing their particular problems and understand them
as social problems. The structural condition of the educational system
allows a more permanent social transformation, and no other policy is
capable of doing so. The formal structure of education of children and
young people, in the vast majority of countries, reaches a significant part
of the population. Thereby, the didactic-pedagogical training of pro­
fessors also becomes a point of interest when one understands that these
will be the most capable peers for the majority of the population that
goes through the school.
On the other hand, informal structures of education, such as mu­
seums and science fairs, have been increasingly considered as prominent
places for disseminating science and technology [74,75]. These places
provide conditions for people to be in contact with accumulated and
stabilized knowledge throughout history, as well as establish a broader
context than those experienced in their daily lives [76]. These are sit­
uations that allow developing scientific and critical thinking, as well as
offering opportunities so that what is studied in formal environments
can be put into practice. Science fairs, e.g., particularly in the perspec­
tive of a psycho-pedagogical theoretical framework, such as the socio­
cultural theory, are great opportunities for approaching professors,
students, and the community as a whole. These events, based on an
energy education public policy, are grounded in the principle of relating
individual problems with social ones in which there may be demon­
strations, models of devices and systems, simulations, among several
other elements of power generation and consumption so that partici­
pants can identify and consider energy system problems as their own.
This type of environment, in addition to educating students, evokes a
feeling of belonging to the community and sensitizes them about
rational energy use, which is now expressed through symbols (socially
shared signs) that significantly reduces the emergence of barriers.
Barriers for rational use of energy are present nowadays. Energy
education is identified as one of the most effective ways to overcome
these barriers because it takes into account the human dimension. Thus,
energy policies and scientific efforts aimed at energy conservation
should consider, in terms of energy use programs, the adoption of an
educational framework (for example, based on cognitivism) to potenti­
alize actions stemmed from the social awareness. Energy education is
not merely a planning tool; it is rather a fundamental transformation
process of personal values within the whole complexity of human re­
lationships and life in society. It is necessary to consider the chain
composed by personal values-attitude-behaviour in the educational
approach to complete the energy planning puzzle.
R.A. Dias et al.
6. Conclusion
Analysis and interpretation of topics reported in works citing ‘the
senior paper’ [1] have revealed that the subject of energy education re­
mains relevant nowadays and it is as challenging as it was during that
time. Articles published over the latest fifteen years offer several con­
tributions by representatives of scientific communities, governmental
agencies, and other organizations interested in rational energy use,
determine that the educational process is one of the main ways to ach­
ieve this goal, answering the first research question (‘what has been
published about energy consumption education based on the concept of
energy education proposed there?‘). However, the presence of barriers in
taking actions aimed at rational energy use in educational institutions,
production organizations, and in the development of public policies for
energy consumption, is frequently reported as a reaction on the part of
individuals belonging to various levels of the social strata. Taking into
account the keywords identified in the analysed works, the barriers give
the preponderant weight in the contexts, answering the second research
question (‘what are the contexts?‘)
The answer to the third research question (‘what contributions have
been made according to its initial proposition?‘) suggests a reflection on
the barriers associated with the efficient use of energy and how energy
education, taking into accounts aspects of human psychology, makes it
possible to overcome such barriers.
Overcoming the barriers associated with rational energy use is
directly related to the development of personal values and involves
educational processes that affect each individual, which is present in
their culture, beliefs, and education (formal and informal). Given the
above, comprehending the social context and developing educational
strategies guided by some theoretical educational framework - Vygot­
sky’s Social interaction theory in this case - allows a better appreciation
of how to organize and disseminate the concepts and ways of acting in
favour of energy efficiency.
The understanding of energy and its forms of use is indirectly due to
its abstract feature. Thus, educational processes that take into account
the contextualization of teaching are more prone to positive results. The
contextualization of teaching assigns meaning to energy transformations
and places symbols and concepts within the reach of individuals, thus
providing them with a sense of legitimacy for the chain represented
preliminarily by their values, which is subsequently driven by the taking
of attitude and the realization of their actions in a pro-conservationist
behaviour towards energy efficiency.
Therefore, even though an intervention focused on rational energy
use is technically feasible and economically attractive, the lack of the
human aspect in this "equation" favours the emergence of barriers in
different stages, distinct forms and processes involved, such as those
occurring in public policies, community actions, business programs,
among others. The intentional and justifiable elaboration of initiatives
aimed at efficient use of energy, supported by a theoretical educational
framework, allows improving personal values in this context (concepts),
thus leading to more perennial behaviours (actions) and, consequently,
purpose-driven attitudes (the connection between personal values and
behaviours).
Author contribution
Rubens Alves Dias: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing –
original draft, Writing – review & editing. Marília Rios de Paula:
Investigation, Writing – original draft. Paloma Maria Silva Rocha Rizol:
Investigation, Writing – original draft. José Alexandre Matelli: Meth­
odology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Cristiano
Rodrigues de Mattos: Methodology, Writing – original draft. José
Antonio Perrella Balestieri: Methodology, Writing – original draft,
Writing – review & editing.
8
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 141 (2021) 110845
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
Jose Antonio Perrella Balestieri, Jose Alexandre Matelli and Cris­
tiano Mattos are grateful to the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), processes 301853/2018–5, 301035/
2018–0, and 302100/2019–9 respectively.
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