Level of awareness on environment and energy; a survey of the freshmen at Habib University

This paper explores the opinions and the level of awareness of undergraduate students on environmental issues, renewable energy and climate change. With the aim of getting a closer insight, a survey was conducted among the students who studied renewable energy as one of the core courses offered to all freshmen enrolled in various disciplines at Habib University. This paper is an attempt to comprehend the effectiveness of this course in terms of behavior change, basic understanding of scientific phenomena related to energy and to develop a sense of responsibility. The methodology used was questionnaire based qualitative analysis using descriptive statistics. The results of survey indicate that renewable energy education enhances the students' perception and attitudes towards renewable energy as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels. It also enhances their level of understanding and willingness to adopt renewable and sustainable energy practices. The findings reveal that a student's awareness level towards the most challenging issues is increased up to approximately 80% after taking the energy course at Habib University. The majority of students (65%), agreed to opt for renewable energy despite higher implementation costs and 87 % showed an interest to install solar energy plans in their homes.