A physical laboratory for energy efficiency education

This paper describes a new laboratory that was developed to teach undergraduate students at School of Technology of Setúbal/Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Portugal, some of the main issues regarding the problem of energy efficiency. Achieving energy efficiency is important since is seen as a powerful and cost-effective tool for achieving a sustainable energy future. So, the need for teaching energy efficiency methodologies is today very important. However, the pedagogical approach where the students revisit previously studied material placed in a practical context is fundamental. Practical experience also increases the interest of students, since it allows connecting the theory to practice. Under this context, this laboratory provides to students experimental work. Several examples of experiments are presented and discussed. Since it is very important that everyone contributes to energy efficiency, this laboratory was also developed in order to receive ordinary people.