Appraisal of Knowledge of Youth Towards Energy Conservation and Efficiency in India : An Exploratory Research

India is currently facing a mismatch between demand and supply to the tune of 8.5%. Efficient energy management and conservation is found to be the most cost effective and environmentally benign option to augment the gap between demand and supply. Planning Commission (2012) has estimated, ‘nearly 25,000 MW of capacity creation through efficient energy management is possible in India’. India is young nation with 30% of population as youth; hence this sector can be empowered with knowledge and skills so that they are capable of taking appropriate steps towards the energy management measures. The research focused on prevalent awareness level of youth towards energy and related concepts, so that an effective and valid capacity building module for energy management can be developed. Knowledge and skills of youth towards energy management was studied. The knowledge level towards energy and related issues was seen to be low with, 46.25% of sample scoring average and 33.75% scoring low on the energy conservation and efficiency knowledge test and energy auditing skill test. The prevalent awareness and application level of youth, was found to be inadequate. This lack in knowledge is seen as the first roadblock towards changing behavior and attitude of masses towards energy and its conversation Based on this criteria capacity building programme can be developed to generate awareness not only among youth, but also other stakeholders