On Monday 28 April at the Cosmocaixa Barcelona a multidisciplinary team from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the University of the Balearic Islands and Eurecat will present the results of the project "De l'euro al joule", an initiative aimed at identifying citizen education challenges in the energy transition and study how social dynamics influence new energy habits. The project includes the creation of an education platform with digital resources on energy. The results will allow to quantify the social influence in the energy transition and design more effective promotional strategies.
The success of the energy transition process requires a transformation of social thinking that values energy savings and efficiency at the same levels as economic savings and performance, in order to save joules in the same way we save euros. The presentation of the results of the project "From the Euro to the Joule" (eur2j) will take place on Monday 28 April at 4:00 p.m. This initiative, led by UAB Physics Department lecturers Daniel Campos and Xavier Àlvarez, aims to promote science education in the field of energy transition and encourage public debate on this crucial issue.
The project, which also included the involvement of researchers from the University of the Balearic Islands and Eurecat, studies the dynamics of social transmission present in the acquisition of knowledge and new habits and technologies, in order to optimise the design of training activities and promotional strategies and campaigns in the field of energy transition. The aim is to design a training and education process for citizens to enable them to make responsible and sustainable decisions, and to protect them against misinformation.
Tools of complex systems science
To achieve these goals, researchers used tools of complex systems science to study and understand how the dynamics of social transmission condition the acquisition of knowledge among citizens, as well as the adoption of new habits and technologies in the context of energy.
Different studies show a population with high levels of awareness of the energy problem and its environmental implications, but low levels of information on the subject and limited willingness and capacity to make the necessary changes in habits in order to improve the situation. For researchers, this step from awareness to literacy is the great pending challenge.
The axes on which the project is based are the creation of a digital platform with training resources (videos, workshops through social networks, etc.); a study to show the impact of the contents of this platform on social networks, depending on the language used (scientific or viral); an analysis of the temporal and geographical patterns followed by new self-consumption photovoltaic installations, with the aim of understanding to what extent these are due to social imitation phenomena; as well as a final report to assess the potential influence that these social dynamics have on the process of penetration of the energy transition in society, and on the potential strategies and promotional campaigns that are proposed.
The digital platform provides a variety of materials in different formats on energy transition. It contains a section of educational videos that explore the energy transition through real situations and practical challenges to understand how social dynamics influence new energy habits. With an interactive approach, these challenges motivate reflection and active learning, fostering a more informed citizenry committed to the sustainable use of energy.
Results of the project
Among the main results of the project,one that stands out is the fact that there is a significant bias between the levels of awareness (quite high) and training (very low, in general) that citizens have towards the energy model. Social networks as a mechanism of information have a very limited power to fill this gap, are very conditioned by the functioning of the algorithms of recommendations, but are nonetheless important because a fairly large volume of educational content in these channels is the best vaccine to counteract the effect of fake news.
For researchers, a more effective communication of ideas related to energy and sustainability involves designing campaigns and educational activities strategically to produce a cumulative effect, so that the same segment of the population is affected through different channels and mechanisms simultaneously to consolidate the message.
Multidisciplinary team
The project "From the euro to the joule. Study of social dynamics to promote citizen empowerment in the field of energy transition" (euro2j) was funded through the Barcelona City Council's 2023 call for "Grants for Research and Innovation Projects in Collaboration with the Fundació la Caixa" to inform citizens about future policy decisions, improve their quality of life, build a more sustainable and inclusive city, and promote the dissemination of research results for an effective transfer of knowledge and to contribute to scientific culture.
The project was led by UAB Physics Department researchers Daniel Campos and Francesc Xavier Àlvarez, with the participation of researchers Josep Enric Llebot and Vicenç Méndez (from the same department), Eurecat researcher Julián Vicens, and researchers from the University of the Balearic Islands Aleix Bofarull, Raul Toral, Pere Colet and Canigó Callau.
Event programme
The presentation session of the project results is aimed at those interested in environmental education and communication, especially secondary school teachers interested in incorporating (through class problems, didactic units, research work, etc.) aspects related to sustainability and energy in the secondary school curriculum.
4:00 - 4:30 p.m. Inaugural speech by environmental journalist and scientific disseminator Cori Calero (TV3): "How to communicate the climate crisis: tools for secondary school teachers"
4:30 – 5:10 p.m. Presentation of the eur2j project results
5:10 – 5:40 p.m. Coffee break
5:40 – 6:30 p.m. Demonstration session: "How to incorporate sustainability and energy transition concepts into the secondary school curriculum"
6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Networking session: "Creation of a network to promote scientific education on energy"
