Energy Literacy: Does education field matter?

Considering as an essential tool that allows citizens to adopt more energy efficiency behavior, energy literacy is seen as part of the solution to the growing problem of climate change, and even to the scarcity of fossil fuels. The concept of energy literacy aggregates three main dimensions: energy-related knowledge, attitude and behavior. Although knowledge alone may not be synonymous of a good level of energy literacy, it is one of the cornerstones. As a rule, much of the knowledge we have is acquired in schools, and although in the early years some focus is given to some basic notions of energy, these prove to be insufficient. In this way, more specific energy-related knowledge can be acquired later in higher education. However, not all higher education courses include in their curriculum, units that meet this need. Thus, in this paper we intend to evaluate how the education field influences the levels of energy literacy. Statistically and in empirical terms, we found that the levels of energy literacy are moderate, but we did not find significant differences between the different education fields analyzed. The reasons for the findings are discussed and we provide some suggestions for the future of education.