Achieving low carbon society through primary school ecolife challenge in Iskandar Malaysia

Abstract

Iskandar Malaysia Ecolife Challenge was initiated jointly between Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Iskandar Regional Development Agency (IRDA) in 2013 with the collaboration and full support from the Johor State Education Department (JPNJ). It started with 23 pilot primary schools to complete a workbook designed by UTM to learn about low carbon society as a post-UPSR activity among Year 6 students. In 2015, all 226 primary schools in the Iskandar Malaysia region were involved in the program. This paper reports how the program has helped to reduce carbon emission in this region and changed the behavior of the students as well as the teachers. Questionnaire measuring the students' low carbon practice at home was distributed every year before the beginning and at the end of the program. Data on the household electricity and water usage, mileage of the vehicle and number of household members were captured. From the analysis of 1,496 completed workbooks submitted, the average number of one household is 5.42 or 5 to 6 persons in a house. The average electricity usage of a household in a month is 478.22 kWh or equivalent to emission of 325.19 kgCO2, while the average water usage of a household in a month is 39.28 m3 or equivalent to emission of 16.46 kgCO2. On the use of a household vehicle, a vehicle travels on average 32.87 km/d and 201.77 km/week. In term of the low carbon practice among the students, after accounting for the household carbon emission using the workbook, the practice on low carbon increase from 2.42 to 3.04 on a 5-point scale. This provides rich data on the carbon emission pattern of a household in Iskandar Malaysia and that the program has helped to improve the students' practice and awareness on low carbon society.