National Energy Literacy Survey

A survey of students, teachers and parents on energy literacy in Australia.

A survey to help guiding actions to support an independent, collaborative and evidence-based approach to
building energy literacy across Australia, and it is aimed to become a measure of Australia’s level of energy literacy to help us drive and measure the impact of energy educational programs.

Energy Literacy or an energy literate person was described in the 2019 NERA study by The University of Queensland: https://www.nera.org.au/Publications-and-insights/Energy-literacy” target=”_blank”>Building Australia’s Energy Literacy, as being defined as someone with the appropriate level of knowledge which empowers them to make informed rational energy decisions and actions which have a positive outcome for the individual, and ultimately, society at large.

Low levels of understanding of the generation, transportation and use of energy among Australians, impact our ability to position our nation as a global leader in energy production; this is emphasised by the concerns of a visible part of society in issues such as climate change or affordable energy that directly affects policy in relation to energy security and the transition to lower carbon emission energies. As such, the Australian community may not be equipped to participate in change or make
informed choices.

Expanding from a recent energy literacy study by the University of Queensland and NERA, we identify two key goals for a national energy literacy survey: to test the assumption, we would like to test and validate the following assumptions:

■ that Australians are worried about challenges for which school education has not prepared them; for instance, how to deliver reliable and cheap energy to the world, while reducing carbon emissions. (It should be noted that individual worries and the scale of challenges may be at a more personal level, such as how to access a stable energy supply, use energy responsibly, increase energy affordability, and guarantee the safety of energy generation and transmission).

■ that in Australia today there is a relatively low level of energy literacy by students and
teachers and the broader society.

We hope that the results of the survey will help guide actions aimed to increase Energy Literacy from the different actors in the Energy sector and will become a measure of Australia’s level of energy literacy to help us drive and measure the impact of energy educational programs.

We are driven by the conviction that improving Energy Literacy will enhance our country’s ability to address local and global challenges when it comes to the energy production mix and their energy sources, while addressing climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating employment opportunities in a world where all economies and health standards have been negatively compromised by COVID‐19.