{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,31]],"date-time":"2026-03-31T20:07:32Z","timestamp":1774987652984,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,2]],"date-time":"2020-07-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1593648000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Energies"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Energy literacy is a concept which is not widely known by the public; however, it has captured the attention of several researchers in recent years. Concerning the assessment of energy and financial knowledge and people\u2019s attitudes, intentions and behavior, it provides a global view of people\u2019s knowledge, feelings, concerns and habits related to energy usage. Since energy is such an important resource in our daily lives, we can hardly imagine living without it. Moreover, considering that its production often requires the use of limited resources and leads to the worsening of already existing environmental problems, finding ways to alert consumers to the efficient management of their consumption is an urgent need. Therefore, in this article, we aimed to evaluate energy literacy levels, considering all the dimensions mentioned above, and search for the determinants of these levels. As an added novelty, we also aimed to determine the role of financial knowledge on energy literacy dimensions. After distributing a questionnaire to the university community in Portugal, we found good levels of energy literacy, despite moderate levels of energy and financial knowledge. Gender seems to be a determinant of all energy literacy dimensions, and financial knowledge has a positive and significant impact on energy knowledge.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/en13133412","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,3]],"date-time":"2020-07-03T06:51:20Z","timestamp":1593759080000},"page":"3412","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Financial Knowledge\u2019s Role in Portuguese Energy Literacy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Ana","family":"Martins","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism (DEGEIT), University of Aveiro, Campus Universit\u00e1rio de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4905-2771","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mara","family":"Madaleno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism (DEGEIT), University of Aveiro, Campus Universit\u00e1rio de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6695-8479","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marta","family":"Ferreira Dias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism (DEGEIT), University of Aveiro, Campus Universit\u00e1rio de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eneco.2017.12.004","article-title":"Explaining electricity demand and the role of energy and investment literacy on end-use efficiency of Swiss households","volume":"68","author":"Blasch","year":"2017","journal-title":"Energy Econ."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"U.S. Department of Energy (2017). Energy Literacy: Essencial Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Energy Education."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.1080\/00958964.2012.682615","article-title":"Designing an Energy Literacy Questionnaire for Middle and High School Youth","volume":"44","author":"Dewaters","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Environ. Educ."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"454","DOI":"10.1016\/j.egyr.2019.09.007","article-title":"Energy literacy: What is out there to know?","volume":"6","author":"Martins","year":"2020","journal-title":"Energy Rep."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1699","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2010.12.049","article-title":"Energy literacy of secondary students in New York State (USA): A measure of knowledge, affect, and behavior","volume":"39","author":"Dewaters","year":"2011","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1255","DOI":"10.1080\/09500693.2012.661483","article-title":"Investigating Urban Eighth-Grade Students\u2019 Knowledge of Energy Resources","volume":"34","author":"Bodzin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Sci. Educ."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"304","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envsci.2015.07.011","article-title":"Energy and environmental attitudes in the green state of Denmark: Implications for energy democracy, low carbon transitions, and energy literacy","volume":"54","author":"Sovacool","year":"2015","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Policy"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"791","DOI":"10.1007\/s12053-015-9327-5","article-title":"Investigating and structural modeling energy literacy of high school students in Taiwan","volume":"8","author":"Chen","year":"2015","journal-title":"Energy Effic."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"98","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2014.11.012","article-title":"Energy literacy: Evaluating knowledge, affect, and behavior of students in Taiwan","volume":"76","author":"Lee","year":"2015","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"832","article-title":"Energy literacy and agency of New Zealand children","volume":"23","author":"Lawson","year":"2015","journal-title":"Environ. Educ. Res."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"586","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2016.03.136","article-title":"Energy saving on campus: A comparison of students\u2019 attitudes and reported behaviours in the UK and Portugal","volume":"129","author":"Cotton","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"44","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apcbee.2013.05.009","article-title":"Conserving Behaviour: A Replication of the ENVIROCON Scale in Four Countries","volume":"5","author":"Alves","year":"2013","journal-title":"APCBEE Procedia"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Blasch, J., Boogen, N., Daminato, C., and Filippini, M. (2018). Empower the Consumer! Energy-Related Financial Literacy and its Socioeconomic Determinants. SSRN Electron. J.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.3175874"},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Kalmi, P., Trotta, G., and Kazukauskas, A. (2017, January 3\u20136). The Role of Energy Literacy as a Component of Financial Literacy: Survey-Based Evidence from Finland. Proceedings of the 15th IAEE European Conference, Vienna, Austria."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"245","DOI":"10.1348\/014466607X230876","article-title":"Habit vs. intention in the prediction of future behaviour: The role of frequency, context stability and mental accessibility of past behaviour","volume":"47","author":"Danner","year":"2008","journal-title":"Br. J. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1104","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolecon.2009.12.004","article-title":"Not irrational but habitual: The importance of \u201cbehavioural lock-in\u201d in energy consumption","volume":"69","year":"2010","journal-title":"Ecol. Econ."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Kumar, N. (2018). A Descriptive Overview of Literacy, Attitudes and Behaviours towards Energy Consumption in Nepal, Centre for Energy Policy and Economics (CEPE), ETH Z\u00fcrich."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Filippini, M., Kumar, N., and Srinivasan, S. (2019). Energy-Related Financial Literacy and Bounded Rationality in Appliance Replacement Attitudes: Evidence from Nepal, CER-ETH\u2014Center of Economic Research.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.3345180"},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Filippini, M., Blasch, J., Boogen, N., and Kumar, N. (2018). Energy efficiency, Bounded Rationality and Energy-Related Financial Literacy in the Swiss Household Sector, ETH Zurich."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1611","DOI":"10.1080\/13504622.2017.1395394","article-title":"Is students\u2019 energy literacy related to their university\u2019s position in a sustainability ranking?","volume":"24","author":"Cotton","year":"2017","journal-title":"Environ. Educ. Res."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"646","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2009.08.010","article-title":"Energy consumption by gender in some European countries","volume":"38","year":"2010","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"413","DOI":"10.1080\/13504620600942972","article-title":"Students as catalysts of environmental change: A framework for researching intergenerational influence through environmental education","volume":"12","author":"Ballantyne","year":"2006","journal-title":"Environ. Educ. Res."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jenvp.2012.12.001","article-title":"Understanding teen attitudes towards energy consumption","volume":"34","author":"Toth","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Environ. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1297","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2019.03.033","article-title":"Exploring the perceptions of drivers of energy behaviour","volume":"129","author":"Broek","year":"2019","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_25","first-page":"1","article-title":"Energy literacy of vocational students in Taiwan","volume":"23","author":"Lee","year":"2015","journal-title":"Environ. Educ. Res."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Boogen, N. (2018, January 10\u201313). Empirical Estimation of the Level of Energy Efficiency in the European Household Sector: Evidence from Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Proceedings of the 41st IAEE International Conference\u2014\"Transforming Energy Markets\", Groningen, Netherlands."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kumar, N. (2019). A Model-based Clustering Approach for Analyzing Energy-related Financial Literacy and Its Determinants. SSRN Electron. J.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.3328468"},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Brutscher, P. (2011). Payment Matters?\u2014An Exploratory Study into the Pre-Payment Electricity Metering, University of Cambridge. Cambridge Working Paper in Economics, 1108."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1202","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2009.11.012","article-title":"The barriers to energy efficiency in China: Assessing household electricity savings and consumer behavior in Liaoning Province","volume":"38","author":"Dianshu","year":"2010","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"236","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jeem.2019.06.005","article-title":"Prospect theory and energy efficiency","volume":"96","author":"Heutel","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Environ. Econ. Manag."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1016\/j.reseneeco.2017.06.001","article-title":"Boundedly rational consumers, energy and investment literacy, and the display of information on household appliances","volume":"56","author":"Blasch","year":"2016","journal-title":"Resour. Energy Econ"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111000","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2019.111000","article-title":"Financial development and energy consumption: Is the MENA region different?","volume":"135","author":"Gaies","year":"2019","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"DeWaters, J.E., Powers, S.E., and Graham, M. (2007, January 23\u201328). Developing an energy literacy scale. Proceedings of the 114th Annu. ASEE Conf. Expo., Honolulu, HI, USA."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"42","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eneco.2013.02.008","article-title":"Energy literacy, awareness, and conservation behavior of residential households","volume":"38","author":"Brounen","year":"2013","journal-title":"Energy Econ."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"112","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enbuild.2011.10.039","article-title":"The energy-saving effects of apartment residents\u2019 awareness and behavior","volume":"46","author":"Cho","year":"2012","journal-title":"Energy Build."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3226","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2008.04.021","article-title":"Effective education for energy efficiency","volume":"36","author":"Zografakis","year":"2008","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Blasch, J., Boogen, N., Filippini, M., and Kumar, N. (2017). The Role of Energy and Investment Literacy for Residential Electricity Demand and End-use Efficiency. SSRN Electron. J.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.2940197"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.1257\/jel.52.1.5","article-title":"The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence","volume":"52","author":"Lusardi","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Econ. Lit."},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"Energia, S. (2019, June 29). Quiz Energia. Available online: http:\/\/www.senergia.pt\/quizzes\/quiz-energia\/."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15","DOI":"10.1080\/00958964.1987.9942735","article-title":"Ninth-Grade Students\u2019 Attitudes toward Energy: A Comparison between Maine and New Brunswick","volume":"18","author":"Barrow","year":"1987","journal-title":"J. Environ. Educ."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.1080\/00958964.1991.9943060","article-title":"The Impact of an Environmental Education Program on Knowledge and Attitude","volume":"22","author":"Armstrong","year":"1991","journal-title":"J. Environ. Educ."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"456","DOI":"10.1108\/IJSHE-12-2013-0166","article-title":"Developing students\u2019 energy literacy in higher education","volume":"16","author":"Cotton","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Sustain. High. Educ."}],"container-title":["Energies"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1996-1073\/13\/13\/3412\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T09:46:27Z","timestamp":1760175987000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1996-1073\/13\/13\/3412"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,2]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"13","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,7]]}},"alternative-id":["en13133412"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/en13133412","relation":{},"ISSN":["1996-1073"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1996-1073","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,2]]}}}