Bioenergy education and training for the youth — Does it matter for the sustainability of bioenergy?

In order to understand young students´ perceptions of bioenergy and the social environment of their learning about bioenergy, a survey was conducted among 1903 school students of 15 years age in Finland, Slovakia, Taiwan, and Turkey. The results showed that the students were critical of bioenergy especially the issues related to energy production from forest biomass. Most of the students did not have any discussions related to bioenergy in their schools and at homes. The majority of the students perceived that there would be no possibility to learn about bioenergy in their schools. Media appeared as a source of information on bioenergy to a large number of the respondents. The study suggests improving young students´ perceptions of bioenergy. This can lead to social sustainability of the bioenergy projects by reducing conflicts. The STS (science, technology and society) approach for teaching bioenergy related topics for school students would be highly relevant.