Duta Hemat Energi

The increasing global demand for energy and the scarcity and pollution problems associated with conventional energy sources underlie a very likely energy crisis over the next 20 to 30 years. This means that the younger generations are the ones that most likely will face this potential problem; therefore, action must be taken by no other than the youth themselves.

To solve this emerging issue, IIEE in collaboration with the Directorate General of New, Renewable Energy & Energy Conservation, Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources have been initiating Duta Hemat Energi (Energy Saving Ambassador) program, an educational program for the youths, especially students focusing on energy efficiency and conservation. Each school is represented by a teacher to be assigned as the Energy Manager and 5 to 10 students as the Energy Saving Ambassadors. We aim to introduce the basics of energy, energy conservation, and energy efficiency, develop energy-saving behavior from an early age, increase the active role of schools in energy education, and obtain information on regular household energy consumption.

We start by giving socialization in order to share the basic knowledge and awareness on the importance of energy efficiency practices in simple and engaging ways. Therefore, students and teachers could grasp the idea of this program’s objective, thus leading them to participate in this program. Furthermore, there are series of training where the participants will be introduced to the basics of energy conservation and energy-saving techniques through fun workshops, watching movies, storytelling, and site visits. The ambassadors are also trained to hone their skills in public speaking here. 

The ambassadors then will be encouraged to do practices and knowledge sharing to disseminate their knowledge on energy-saving activities and efforts they can make through social media campaigns or directly to their friends and families, hoping that people around them will also engage in such behaviors. In parallel, they are also doing the investigation on energy consumption in their own household through simplified calculations and collecting electricity bills and see how much they have implemented energy-saving practices.

After doing so, at the end of the program, there will be a competition that encourages all ambassadors to embrace the energy-saving habit in their daily life. The competition is held among schools, with winners divided into several categories such as The Best School, The Best Energy Manager, and The Best Energy Saving Ambassadors. To ensure the awareness of energy conservation programs through the ambassadors is going to be held continuously, there is also a monitoring process for each school.

As of 2022, there are already more than 400 Energy Saving Ambassadors from more than 60 schools in 4 provinces since 2017. This program has been held by IIEE and Directorate General of New, Renewable Energy & Energy Conservation, Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources, along with support from our partners, DANIDA-ESP3 (Duta Hemat Energi Jawa Tengah), BNI 46 (Duta Hemat Energi Jawa Barat), ICLEI Indonesia (Duta Hemat Energi DKI Jakarta), and ETP-UNOPS (Duta Hemat Energi Jawa Timur). 

This year, Duta Hemat Energi is being held in East Java Province. With total 24 participating schools consist of 120 Energy Saving Ambassadors and 24 Energy Managers from all educational level i.e. Elementary, Junior High, and Senior High/Vocational. This program has been supported by Energy Transition Partnership UNOPS under the Energy Efficiency Innovation Funding Window (EEIW). 

Further information is available on Duta Hemat Energi official Instagram Page. 

In the future, we aim to create and train more ambassadors and reach broader regions to spread awareness of energy conservation and energy-saving habits among youths. To make this happen, we invite institutions and companies to support this program through CSR funds or other funding mechanisms. If interested, please contact our Outreach Division: Ade Djunainah (ade@iiee.or.id).

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Indonesian Institute of Energy Economics (IIEE) was founded in Jakarta in 1995 as a non-government think-tank institute with the primary aim of becoming an energy economic research institute to support the management and benefit of energy resources extensively. We do research, and disseminate the outcome in the form of reports, discussions, workshops, and others to extend input to improve decisions and management of national energy.