Energy Counselling and Modern IT. Drawing on Web 2.0 for a Greener World

The aim of this article is to explore how modern IT solutions for collaborative knowledge evolution could lead to more effective energy counselling and increased energy knowledge among the public. Comparative studies have been performed where the focus has been on the prerequisites for effective use of web 2.0 type collaboration and wikis. The research is primarily aimed at actors within the energy sector, although similar developments also take place in other sectors. Targeted investments employing collaborative IT to involve the public in energy counselling could lead to lower energy consumption and an increased consciousness of environmental issues in the society. A conclusion is that web 2.0-like initiatives could play a valuable role in the knowledge development and exchange between energy counsellors, and further the knowledge exchange between the counsellors, the regional energy agencies and the public. They could also help channel an energy interest among the public into a collaborative knowledge production, and contribute to a good quality factual basis for the conceptions that develop in society. This would strengthen both the energy counselling and the energy counsellor corps.