Renewable Energy Conciousness Through Education

As the environmental problems caused by the increased utilization of fossil fuels are becoming more severe and to meet the increasing demand for energy, alternatives clean energy resources need to be explored along with conserving existing resources. Consciousness of importance of renewable energy and its possibilities to be exploited and developed should be socialised and introduced. It can be done through the formal education.

The poor dissemination of renewable energy technologies may be attributed to several factors. One of the important inhabiting factors is the lack of a structured framework for providing energy education, in general, renewable energy education, in particular. For example, in many countries, the lack of indigenous technology development capability in the area of new and renewable sources of energy has often resulted in the promotion of very expensive and inappropriate designs. Similarly, in some other places, owing to the unavailability of local technical manpower for proper repair and maintenance of the initially installed systems, the user have decided to use some other energy resource-technology combinations. Some of the renewable energy technologies were not accepted by the end users as they were unaware of their potential benefits and associated requirements (Kandpal and Garg, 1996)
Studies indicate that renewable energy related education is an area in which very little has been done, not only in developing countries but also in developed countries. This absence of any ambitious educational programme results mainly from two factors: the breadth and interdisciplinary nature of the subject, and the lack of recognition that renewable energy will be great importance in the decades to come (Panangkis at al. 1995)