Public Awareness Analysis on Renewable Energy in Malaysia

Abstract

Renewable energy is growing rapidly and becoming a popular alternative source of energy. Malaysia is looking forward to achieve 50% implementation of renewable energy (RE) by 2050. Sustainable energy development has been related to environmental issues, which can be eradicated by replacing fossil fuels with natural resources such as hydropower, solar, and wind to generate electricity. Public awareness is important towards accomplishing the goal in implementing renewable energy. Thus, this study focused on the survey of renewable energy awareness which was conducted randomly in urban and rural areas in Malaysia. The aims of the study were to identify and explore public awareness of renewable energy based on the respondents’ educational level and area of residence. The perspective on renewable energy by each residential area is related to knowledge and technologies. The survey data was analysed using probability sampling and stratified technique. The results indicated that most of Malaysians realized and are informed about renewable energy which is gradually increasing in terms of sustainability awareness. Therefore, this study is expected to be useful in spreading understanding among citizens about the application of renewable energy by obtaining data on public knowledge and opinions. There were concerns about the environment with 90.3% of the responses showing that the public were aware of the negative impacts of pollution, which indicated a positive use of alternative energy. However, the implementation of renewable energy technologies was not optimised due to the expensive costs involved (98.8%). In achieving the government target, excellent and smart initiatives should be taken to attract the Malaysian public of every level in society by increasing public awareness of renewable energy as well as encouraging the people to adopt renewable technologies in their daily lives and help save the environment.