The importance of educating households on energy savings for reducing energy consumption and pollution

This study explores the impact of educating households on energy savings and its subsequent effect on reducing energy consumption and pollution. The research was conducted on a sample of 10,044 household owners in the Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the first round of household visits, data on individual household electricity consumption for the past twelve months were collected, education on possible energy savings in households was conducted, and four standard light bulbs were replaced with four LED light bulbs. After one year, a second round of data collection on household electricity consumption for twelve months was conducted. The paper presents comparative indicators of electricity consumption before and after education, achieved savings in consumption, and the calculation of reduced harmful emissions into the air. The research results showed that educating household owners about possible energy savings resulted in an increase in their efforts to achieve energy savings. The value of the achieved energy savings amounts to 4.47% in percentage terms, 1,962,676.50 kWh in absolute terms, the recalculated value of savings in EUR amounts to 166,079, while the value of reduced air emissions amounts to 2,345,398.42 kg CO2. The highest energy savings were achieved in the municipality of Kalesija at 8.76%, while the lowest were in the city of Živinice at 2.64%. The results of this study will contribute to the literature gap in understanding the importance of educating the population, their behavioural characteristics, potential energy savings, and the cost-benefit analysis of such energy-saving projects.