For better or worse, a utility relies on its customers’ use of electricity — whether they use it, when they use it, and how they use it. So, it follows that before utilities can encourage customers to alter any behavior or join any programs, they should aim to ensure customers understand some basic ideas about electricity use.
A new report from the National Energy Foundation shows declines in energy-saving behaviors among high school students. The report, National Energy Literacy among High School Seniors and Recent Graduates, is a snapshot of how well teenagers in the U.S. understand a variety of energy topics and engage in energy efficiency behaviors. Compared with the results from the same survey conducted in 2017, the 2022 survey showed a decline in average energy literacy and a decline in all six energy efficiency behaviors defined by the NEF.
The Department of Energy defines energy literacy as an “understanding of the nature and role of energy in the world and daily lives accompanied by the ability to apply this understanding to answer questions and solve problems.” The DOE further defines people who are energy literate as those who know how much energy they use, know where it comes from, and are able to make informed decisions about how their choices affect themselves and others. The average energy literacy score for the 2022 survey was 42.4, which is down from 48.8 in 2017. Both scores reflect a relatively low level of energy literacy, and NEF posited that the drop could be another measure of the way pandemic-related school closures and online learning affected teens’ education.
The energy behavior with the biggest decline was around whether respondents consciously choose to travel without a car (such as by bike, walking or other public transit), which fell from 30% to 23%. This might be expected due to a decline in reliance on public transport during and after the pandemic. But other behaviors, such as searching for products that are more energy efficient or turning off lights when leaving a room, also saw declines of 5% and 4%, respectively, with the former dropping from 28% to 23% and the latter from 81% to 77%.
Notably, the contingent of survey respondents that grew the most included those who “agree that energy is important but are unwilling to change many personal energy-related behaviors if there is an impact on their personal comfort and convenience,” which the survey called the “Big Talkers.” Roughly one-third of respondents, 32%, fit into this category. This category of respondents also had the lowest average energy-literacy scores of all the groups the NEF segmented.
Room to Grow
NEF laid out seven suggestions for ways energy literacy could be encouraged to rebound among young adults. The suggestions include:
- Using technology, such as explainer videos or personalized usage dashboards, to help convey energy-related information in a more engaging manner.
- Facilitating connections between young people and people in the energy industry, such as through workforce development programs or in-school presentations from utility workers.
- Better harnessing peer influence by offering tools or information to engaged, informed peers that could help spur discussion.
- Strengthening energy education in the classroom, such as through developing curriculum standards or partnerships.
- Supporting targeted education for young people within demographics that tend to have lower energy literacy scores, including those from households with lower incomes or with parents with less educational attainment.
- Making messages family-centered since the behaviors often are about decisions at home.
- Taking a phased approach to encouraging behavior-based changes, starting with conservation.
NEF also saw in this latest survey a growing disconnect between concern or interest in energy efficiency, resources, and conservation, and the personal behaviors that could support related efforts. While this could point to a growing sense of apathy or hopelessness, the foundation believes that this survey could act as a call to action for the industry to help students understand that their actions matter — and that all users have an impact on the system.
