Education for Energy Saving in the House

Abstract: Most of the energy comes from fossil fuels, causing the emission of a huge amount of carbon dioxide and, thus, damaging the environment. Energy resources will have to be used in a more sustainable way to reduce resource depletion and environmental pollution, which can lead to global warming and climate change. Most of the energy is consumed in the home. Both in the European Union countries and in Romania, the residential sector represents a very important potential for reducing the energy consumption by introducing some efficient non-pollutant technologies and an advanced energy management. The electricity consumption in residential sector is mainly focused on the lighting and domestic appliances. The first step in realizing the energy saving potential is to inform and educate students and their families how using energy more efficiently or using renewable energy sources (RES) in the home can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent climate change. Suitable resources have therefore developed in TREAM, (4.1031/Z/02-055/2002), KITH (EIE/05/183/512.421632) European projects and CREFEN Romanian research project to be used in educating both students and their families. The emphasis has been on saving energy by the more efficient use of existing household appliances, the purchase of more energy efficient models when these appliances have to be replaced and the use of RES in the home whenever possible. Here have been developed multi-lingual resources in 9 languages (www.eais.info and www.kyotoinhome.info) with an enlarged European appliance database accessible via Internet, with new product groups that have been energy labeled recently, modules which explain the origins and impacts of global warming, product labeling and energy saving in the home through using appliances more efficiently and a set of activities together with resource material suitable for use in primary and secondary schools throughout the EU