The Prevalence of Students and Teachers’ Ideas about Global Warming and the Use of Renewable Energy Technology

This study aims to explore the prevalence of students’ and teachers’ ideas about global warming and the use of renewable energy technology in Gorontalo, Indonesia. Employing a non-experimental quantitative approach, the data were collected from 1522 respondents and analyzed with the WINSTEPS 3.73 Rasch software. This study reports that 97.6% and 76.08% of the respondents respectively understand the concepts of global warming and renewable energy from the internet (45%) and formal education (<40%). Respondents’ level/status of education, gender, and hometown cause some differences in their ideas prevalence. High school students consider that utilizing renewable energy is not crucial; they also do not concern about global warming effects and the environment. Teachers and university students do not believe that using renewable energy can produce sustainable energy; they also question the safety of renewable energy technology. These findings indicate the needs for a renewable energy literacy program in formal education in Indonesia.