Energy Saving by Gamification Method: Case Study at a Public School, Thailand

Abstract

Nowadays, Thailand has a problem of insufficient energy supply, which has caused Thailand an energy insecurity problem. So the Government of Thailand has announced to all government agencies, including public schools, to reduce their energy consumption. However, it is not simple to fulfill this task due to many obstacles, called “Barriers”. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of a gamification method, which enables schools to create energy saving behavior among its students. A pilot case study was programmed at Sri Ayudhya School where a game named “Power School” was played by 134 students and the data collected using CCTV and questionnaires. Paired t-test statistics was used to evaluate the students’ behavior from participating students and their parents after the pilot study, combined with the records from CCTV. The results from this paper highlight how gamification has significant positive effectiveness to a student’s energy saving behavior at 95% confidence. Therefore, it can be seen that this gamification method is an alternative tool for public schools to improve the energy saving behavior of their students, which can affect the total energy consumption of the schools going forward.