Environmental Education and Energy Efficiency as Strategies for Reducing Energy Consumption in Public School Building in Goiânia

Abstract

Electrical energy is essential for the quality of life of people, who use it in different socioeconomic activities and for technological development. In view of the gradual increase in the demand for electricity and the future possibility of not serving all the consumer sectors, it is necessary to optimize it. The objective of this study was the application of strategies based on the pillars of energy efficiency and environmental education in order to minimize the expenditure of electric energy in public buildings, which were selected for this project due to the fact that, its users show a lack of concern about the correct consumption of electric energy since the expenses are tied to the public coffers and are not always perceived by the people as resources coming from the taxes paid by the citizens. Among the public buildings that consume the most electric energy, the most important are those in the education sector. In fact, a larger project called the Energy Efficiency Project in Public Buildings in Goiânia (PEEEPG), to which this work is linked, found that among the municipal public buildings, the education sector is responsible for approximately 30% of the electricity consumption and, therefore, this specific sector was selected for the application of the selected strategies. The methodology used was based on research-participant, environmental education together with replacement of lamps by LED system (Light Emitting Diode) at strategic locations in the building and monitoring of results. The actions carried out included the lamp replacement, and educational lectures offered to students of different age groups in three school shifts with a partnership of employees and teachers of the municipal school selected on energy efficiency and strategies to reduce the consumption of electricity. The project mobilized directly about 200 people belonging to the target audience and indirectly 800 students who were part of the teaching unit. It was collected a data base among 2012 to 2016. The methods of data collection and analysis were based on documentary research, analyzing the electric energy bills of the building, as well as documents and legislation of the municipality itself on the consumption of electric power and the architecture model applied to school environments in Goiânia. The results obtained, after a monitoring period of six months (November to April) during the years 2016 and 2017, indicated an analyze to reduction of 16% of the consumption of electric energy in the building, compared to the same period in the previous year. Therefore, this result regard to the possibility of investments in energy efficiency projects for public buildings, subsidizing actions in the design, retrofit and maintenance of public buildings.