Household Energy Consumption

This paper presents a study called the Energy Battle, a game aimed at encouraging home occupants to save energy. Twenty student-households were provided with direct feedback and an online platform with energy feedback over time, ranking of the competing teams, tips and a game. The study showed that the game context strongly influenced the motivation to save energy. Overall, savings averaged 24%, with the highest savings level at 45%. Directly after completion of the Energy Battle, energy consumption increased among most of the households, although consumption levels tended to stay below the baseline measurement level taken before the Energy Battle. Follow-up interviews indicated that some of the behaviours developed in the game had transformed into habits. A game such as the Energy Battle appears to provide a powerful means to stimulate energy saving in the short term. The potential to achieve long term effects appears possible, however further research is required to understand long-term implications for an Energy Battle game.

As fossil fuels become less attractive due to its high prices and environmental impact, the need to look at the demand side management became imperative for
sustainable energy and environment. However, in Nigeria, inadequate supply of energy and low production capacity couple with the need to fuel the most
promising economy has necessitated the need for energy efficiency and conservation. Residential and commercial sectors consume up to 80% of the total energy
consumption in the country. As such, there is need for a considerable reduction in these high energy consuming sectors for sufficient energy in other sectors
especially industrial sector. Subsequently, Energy demand in the country were analysed using indicators of trends, demand elasticities, energy intensities, and
future energy trends for the demand side analysis. Consequently, Energy Reduction Programme was considered the most appropriate DSM measure in the
country, but massive awareness campaign, new capacity building and electric metres for all consumers have to be provided.

In the context of the UK's binding CO2 emissions reduction target of 80% by 2050, this thesis investigates the little-understood effect of occupant behaviour on household energy consumption, particularly for space-heating, and its role in the observed 'performance gap.'

Authors: Trotta, Gianluca, Lorek, Sylvia, Spangenberg, Joachim H.
Abstract: Improving residential energy efficiency is widely recognised as one of the best strategies for reducing energy demand, combating climate change, and increasing security of energy supply. However, progress has been slow to date due to a number of market and behavioural barriers that have not been adequately addressed by energy efficiency policies and programmes.
This study is based on updated findings of the European Futures for Energy Efficiency Project that responds to the EU Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2014–2015 theme ‘Secure, clean and efficient energy’. This article draws on five case studies from selected European countries—Finland, Italy, Hungary, Spain, and the UK—and evaluates recent energy efficiency developments in terms of indicators, private initiatives, and policy measures in the residential sector. Our analysis shows that the UK government has implemented a better range of policies, coupled with initiatives from the private sector, aimed at improving energy efficiency. However, its existing conditions appear to be more problematic than the other countries. On the other hand, the lack of effective and targeted policies in Finland resulted in increased energy consumption, while in Hungary, Spain and Italy some interesting initiatives, especially in terms of financial and fiscal incentives, have been found.

This publication is an extended version of the summary and conclusions of the doctoral thesis ‘Smart Energy Management for Households’ (van Dam, 2013). It is specifically intended to give practitioners dealing with Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) in their day to day profession practical tools to strive to improve the use and effectiveness of HEMS. This booklet gives a concise summation of the insights and guidelines formulated in the thesis concerning the design, use, and implementation of HEMS, coupled with citations from users, and practical examples of the applicability of the insights and guidelines. In doing so it aims to let industry benefit from the findings of the research without needing to directly read the thesis.

This paper tackles the problem of integrating household energy prosumers in Smart Energy Grids by analyzing a set of state-of-the-art energy forecasting techniques that allow individual or aggregated prosumers to evaluate their future energy demand and inform the Distributed System Operator (DSO) about potential grid imbalances. Thus, the DSO can perform a proactive strategy to manage the grid and avoid problems before they appear. The key element of this approach is the prediction technique, that must be accurate enough such that the resulting grid imbalances can be compensated in real-time. The paper evaluates a set of state-of-the-art statistical and Machine Learning (ML) prediction techniques, such as SARIMA, feed-forward and recurrent neural networks, support vector regression or ensemble prediction models, on real household historical energy demand logs by performing a feature selection process for each ML algorithm as to identify the best elements that influence the energy demand of a house. A set of experiments are performed on the REFIT Electrical Load Measurements data set evaluating each model's performance with respect to the selected features. Among the evaluated algorithms, the Ensemble Prediction Model gives best prediction accuracy, showing a Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 14.4% followed by the SVM model with a MAPE of 15.4%.

This study investigated an increase in deforestation and its impact in charcoal supply for households in Tanga district (urban). Tanga district was chosen because it has high urban population as compared to her neighbor Districts of Muheza and Mkinga. The district was also chosen because it is so close to natural and reserved forests in both Muheza and Mkinga districts in which effect of deforestation on charcoal supply can be clearly seen and determined. The study involved 61 respondents including (households, charcoal venders and forest officer). Questionnaire survey, interview and documentary review methods were employed in data collection. A quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 20 th version). While qualitative information was analyzed using content analysis. The study findings show that majority 56 (92%) of the respondents reported that there is high rate of deforestation which was mainly contributed by charcoal production in the study area. The study further revealed that the observed high rate of deforestation affect the availability and supply of charcoal for domestic use. The scarcity of charcoal coupled with high and fluctuating price give the evidence on presence domestic energy crisis in the study area. Along with other recommendations, the study recommends that the Government Regulator (Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authorities-EWURA) should consider reducing tariff on other sources of energy particularly gas and electricity to allow many people afford and resorting to alternative energies for their domestic use and hence reduce the extent of deforestation.

Целью данной работы является (i) рассмотреть динамику потребления электроэнергии домохозяйствами в странах Центральной Азии и оценить влияние на нее различных факторов; (ii) рассмотреть наиболее распространенные в странах Центральной Азии бытовые приборы и выделить из них приборы, для которых применение стандартов и маркировки энергопотребления может оказаться наиболее эффективным с точки зрения обеспечения более экономного использования энергоресурсов и бюджета домохозяйств; (iii) сделать обзор развития нормативно-правой базы в области энергоэффективности в целом, а также в области стандартов и маркировки энергопотребления электроприборов, сформулировать направления дальнейшего совершенствования нормативно-правовой документации, технической и институциональной основы в этой сфере.

Energy is crucial for socio-economic development. The presence of energy services is a critical
point in tackling development challenges. But there are many barriers which prevent the availability
of energy services to people living in informal settlement of urban area. The research focuses on
these barriers. This research makes a comparative study between the households of formal and
informal settlement and tries to assess how energy consumption differs in various type of settlement
and what are factors which act as a barrier to energy access.
This thesis first examines the various forms of energy sources which are available to the households
(in both formal and informal settlements) and their type of access ( through formal supply chain or
illegal access to the service). In second stage of research, consumption pattern of energy fuels have
been studied and a regressive analysis is done to find out various household and non households
factors (like income, land tenure status, governance) which shape the energy consumption
behaviour. In the end a comparative assessment of energy consumption and its implications have
been done between formal and informal settlement.
The findings of the research shows that characteristics of the settlement plays an important part in
profiling the energy. For example people living in squatter or informal settlements consume less
fuel compared to those living in formal settings. Also people living in informal settlement are often
deprived of direct access to electricity and LPGs gases so they have to be dependent on other fuel
sources which have a lot of negative impacts on emission. As a result, the emission factor as per
fuel wise is much higher for informal settlement but in aggregate, emission from formal settlement
is greater. This is mainly because people in formal settlement use multiple fuels at the same time.

The aim of this research is estimating the relationship between energy consumption, carbon (iv) oxide emission and industrial production. This relationship would be established for both Nigeria and South Africa. Time series data inputs sourced from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) between 1980 and 2015 were used on the project. The usual preliminary analysis and formal tests were performed on the data before the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) was applied in the model estimation. The choice of the ARDL was due to the results obtained from the formal tests, especially the unit root tests. The model estimation for the data took into account the need to lag the data to be able to achieve stationary property. Both short run and long run estimates were generated. Diagnostic tests were also carried out on the estimated models. The results coefficients for energy consumption and carbon (iv) oxide emission were obtained for short and long run for Nigeria and for only short run for South Africa. Conclusions and policy recommendations were then made to the government in line with the results of the model estimation. Top of the list is the regulation of energy consumption and carbon footprint via policies in the effort to increase industrial production. Keywords: Energy Consumption,CO2 Emissions,Industrial production,Nigeria,South Africa,Models

The household economy analysis baseline study uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to profile livelihood strategies across four different livelihood zones in Zambia. The approach compares two groups of small scale farmers: those using climate smart farming practices and those using conventional farming practices. The study found that farmers using climate smart farming practices were more inclined to be food secure than those relying on conventional farming practices.

Households are increasingly subject to environmental regulation and intervention in today's carbon-constrained world. Highlighting cross-disciplinary synergies between practice theory and material geographies, I illuminate the lived complexities of everyday energy-use in Singapore. Based on an ethno-graphic study of 8 households, it is apparent that energy practices are sustained and reproduced through the subjectivities of materialities, practical ethics, socialised rules and histories, embedded withinin the spatio-temporalities of the actually-existing household. For energy conservation policy and research, these findings suggest non-engagement with the complexities of household energy-use. By promoting a single normative vision of 'Green' energy practices, energy conservation initiatives risk alienating people with practices that do not resonate with household dynamics as they are lived. Instead, an enagement of 'practices' instead of 'behavior' opens up a more expansive field for research and policy engagement in the dynamic and path dependent processes of social normality, and more effective means of encouraging more sustainable ways of living.

Location is one of the key drivers of the consumption and mobility behaviour of people. Agglomeration results in concentrated activity nodes, better provision of public transportation and superior environmental infrastructure, and smaller living spaces that may decrease the environmental load of mobility and energy use. On the other hand, urbanized areas are the nodes of growth and consumption
that provide better accessibility to a wide spectre of commodities. This may in turn increase the environmental load of households living in more urbanized areas.
The thesis addresses the dilemma between the environmental benefits and disadvantages of urbanization across the settlement hierarchy of Estonia, aiming to receive new insights about the effect of location on the environmental load of final consumption. It explores the environmental load of the consumption and mobility behaviour of Estonian residents and analyses the carbon load of business travel along the travel needs and management in knowledge-intensive
business service sector.
The thesis applies environmentally extended input-output methodology to analyse the ecological footprint or carbon load of final consumption based on the data collected from high school students (2009) or acquired from Household Budget Survey that was conducted by Statistics Estonia (2012). The carbon load of business travel is explored with the help of data gained from active mobile positioning and individual interviews with business travellers, and focus group
interviews with organizations (2013). The concept of settlement hierarchy is used as a proxy for geographical location of residents and businesses.
The environmental load of the final consumption of households derives in majority from shelter-related consumption and is considerably lower in Estonia than in European countries of higher wealth. The differences in disposable income levels between the compared countries could lead to even higher differences in the environmental load. However, the high share of expenditure on domestic energy use among Estonian households due to the climatic conditions and poor insulation of dwellings as well as the carbon intensity of the energy sector in Estonia decrease the expectable environmental benefits deriving from lower overall expenditure volume. The size of the environmental load of Estonian residents could not be compared to other Eastern European countries due to the lack of conducted research available.
The findings of the thesis confirm the benefits of dense urban settlements over suburban or rural areas in terms of the environmental load from mobility.
Higher level urban settlements, nevertheless, do not show advantages in front of smaller towns, although it could be expected on the basis of previous research.
The benefits of higher level urban areas are evident only in case of business travel due to the economic agglomeration and concentration of businesses as professionals working in locations that are more distant need to put more efforts on reaching their business network in the main economic centres.
On the other hand, the thesis points out the lifestyle environmental impacts of additional consumption that occurs along higher degrees of urbanization both in dense urban cores and in their surrounding hinterland. Better availability and accessibility of various commodities, especially leisure-related goods and services, in higher hierarchy level settlements favour their consumption and the consequent environmental load also when differences in income levels and
other socio-demographic aspects of households are considered.
The thesis reveals the exceptional position of the residents of regional
industrial centres in Estonian settlement hierarchy considering their significantly low environmental load from final consumption. The very conservative consumption and mobility pattern of the households residing in the Eastern Estonian industrial cities is only partially explained by lower affluence level and different ethnical composition of the population when compared to the rest of the country. It may be assumed that the industrial character, founding and development peculiarities when compared to other cities in Estonia, environmental
problems, remnants of Soviet period scarcity-determined consumption
culture, lack of opportunities for self-expression, and low rate of social relations with the hinterland areas have hindered these regional centres to develop towards contemporary urban cores of active lifestyle.
The study on business travel showed that the need for business travel in
knowledge-intensive service sector considerably depends on the phase of the business cycle at hand. While the success of marketing and sales especially depends on physical co-presence, then core business processes, where the need for travel and communication is the highest, provide opportunities for some travel substitution with virtual modes of communication. Established trust relationships in business partnership are one of the main prerequisites for such substitution  and its environmental benefits.

Durante el primer tercio del siglo XX, particularmente a partir de la Primera Guerra Mundial, España asistió a un incremento considerable del consumo de electricidad. La limitada penetración que había tenido el gas en el ámbito doméstico -para alumbrado o calefacción- y la producción de hidroelectricidad, unidos a los competitivos precios que ofertaban las compañías para captar consumidores, impulsaron el consumo de la nueva fuente de energía en los hogares españoles, lo que redundó en la mejora de las condiciones de vida de las poblaciones urbanas. 
El capítulo estudia, desde una perspectiva social, cómo fue expandiéndose el consumo de energía eléctrica para fines domésticos en España, fundamentalmente en el mundo urbano, desde los primeros años del siglo XX, y de formas más acelerada en las décadas de los veinte y treinta. Se analizan para ello toda una serie de elementos. En primer lugar, el lanzamiento de los primeros electrodomésticos, como ventiladores, aspiradores, planchas, frigoríficos, calefactores, etc., cuya diversificación podemos rastrear a través de la publicidad comercial y de la apertura de los comercios especializados en la venta de los mismos. Igualmente, se estudian la actividad publicitaria y las campañas de marketing de las grandes empresas productoras y distribuidoras de electricidad, lanzadas con el objetivo de fomentar el consumo privado de electricidad, y que incluyeron acciones tan novedosas como la creación, en 1929, de la Asociación Española de Luminotecnia, o la organización, en 1936, de la Semana de la Electricidad Aplicada al Hogar. En este sentido, se presta también atención  a la difusión en España de los principios del home management -divulgado aquí como Ciencias del Hogar- que, al centrarse en la organización científica y racional del trabajo y los espacios domésticos, sirvió para difundir las bondades de la luz eléctrica y los electrodomésticos entre la sociedad española de la época.

Demand-side flexibility has been suggested as a tool for peak demand reduction and large-scale integration of low-carbon electricity sources. Deeper insight into the activities and energy services performed in households could help to understand the scope and limitations of demand-side flexibility. Measuring and Evaluating Time-and Energy-use Relationships (METER) is a 5-year, UK-based research project and the first study to collect activity data and electricity use in parallel at this scale. We present statistical analyses of these new data, including more than 6250 activities reported by 450 individuals in 173 households, and their relationship to electricity use patterns. We use a regular-ization technique to select influential variables in regression models of average electricity use over a day and of discretionary use across 4-h time periods to compare intra-day variations. We find that dwelling and appliance variables show the strongest associations to average electricity consumption and can explain 49% of the variance in mean daily usage. For models of 4-h average Bde-minned^ consumption, we find that activity variables are consistently influential, both in terms of coefficient magnitudes and contributions to increased model explanatory power. Activities relating to food preparation and eating, household chores, and recreation show the strongest associations. We conclude that occupant activity data can advance our understanding of the temporal characteristics of electricity demand and inform approaches to shift or reduce it. We stress the importance of considering consumption as a function of time of day, and we use our findings to argue that a more nuanced understanding of this relationship can yield useful insights for residential demand flexibility.

En este texto se reconoce la importancia de los indicadores urbanos sustentables, así como del amplio y muy recorrido contexto, que a través de los años ha tenido el desarrollo sustentable, que junto con el cambio climático son los requirentes y, al mismo tiempo, promotores de indicadores que contribuyan al mejoramiento de la calidad de vida de las personas que habitan en las ciudades. La energía es fundamental para el desarrollo de las sociedades; el objetivo de desarrollo sostenible número siete es el interés oficial de la ONU en esta materia, el marco es la agenda 2030. Del conjunto de energías renovables, es la opción solar en conjunto con el aditamento tecnológico panel solar, la opción que cuenta con el mayor potencial para su implementación en el ámbito doméstico. Entonces, de acuerdo al panorama descrito, ha sido tarea desarrollar un indicador exploratorio para conocer la cobertura de la energía solar en los hogares mexicanos por estado de la República, utilizando como primer insumo hogares con energía eléctrica por panel solar. Se retoma la propuesta de enfoque “eficiencia energética desde el contexto de las ‘buenas prácticas’ y las energías limpias”. Bajo el enfoque mencionado se agruparon los datos relativos, se normalizaron y se ponderaron. Se realiza una revisión nacional para el año 2014 utilizando datos de INEGI. Se obtiene entonces un ranking, Durango y Sonora son los primeros de la lista. Se proporcionan algunas reflexiones respecto del ejercicio y de las áreas de oportunidad existentes.

ABSTRACT The following analysis and presentation summarizes the implementation in Matlab / Simulink environment of a prototype model digital energy circuit for measurement of the consumption of electric energy of an electrification network in the installations of customer of electric energy that can be applied as part of any consumption smart meter.

KEY WORDS: energy measurement, smart meter, energy circuit, digital to frequency, voltage to frequency, energy pulses, digital signal processing.

The article examines how social practices of charging and managing the power of mobile phones are formed. The usefulness of the concept of distributed agency as a tool for the understanding of the dimensions that constitute social practices related to energy consumption is explored. Based on findings from interviews and a survey conducted with adolescents, three moments in the formation of these practices are identified: emergence of elementary battery use, acceleration of rhythm and establishment of links, and normalization. The article provides empirical evidence of the distributed agency of bodies, objects, and socio-cultural contexts in the development of these practices.

The ownership of household electrical appliances especially refrigerator-freezer has increased rapidly in Malaysia. Almost every household in this country has a refrigerator-freezer. To reduce energy consumptiom in this sector the refrigerator is one of the top priorities of the energy efficiency program for household appliances. Malaysian authority is considering implementing minimum energy efficiency standards for refrigerator-freezer sometime in the coming year. This paper attempts to analyze cost-benefit of implementing minimum energy efficiency standards for household refrigerator-freezers in Malaysia. The calculations were made based on growth of ownership data for refrigerators in Malaysian households. The number of refrigerator-freezer has increased from 175,842 units in 1970 to 4,196,486 in 2000 and it will be about 11,293,043 in the year of 2020. Meanwhile it has accounted for about 26.3% of electricity consumption in a single household. Therefore, efficiency improvement of this appliance will give a significant impact in the future of electricity consumption in this country. Furthermore, it has been found that implementing an energy efficiency standard for household refrigerator-freezers is economically justified. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421503001691 
http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0301421503001691/1-s2.0-S0301421503001691-main.pdf?_tid=37fdc0e6-a9c6-11e3-84eb-00000aacb35f&acdnat=1394615636_60b3c239be3dee9257914e356cb6d988

High-rise residential buildings are increasing worldwide, including cities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Therefore, creating sustainable environments in and around these residential buildings are becoming an important problem. Improving energy efficiency in buildings has received critical attention worldwide. Countries have developed national sustainability strategies that lead to the lower energy consumption while maintaining comfort, reducing energy consumption, and minimizing harmful emissions. In this paper, an analysis of the impact of external shading devices in high-rise residential buildings on energy consumption of a 13-storey building in Sulaimani city is studied. The study is focused on fixed shading elements, explaining the influence of the design of vertical and horizontal shading devices on the total energy consumption of this type of building. The results show that both a single fixed horizontal blind with a depth of 20 cm and a triple vertical shading with the sam...

This chapter considers the similarities and differences between ten European countries in relation to meso-level considerations when it comes to household energy usage. We uncover the governing frameworks and policies related to energy usage, then examine socio-demographic characteristics including housing tenure and location. Next, we consider the energy mix and material arrangements, such as building stocks, before turning to climatic considerations and the cost of energy. The conclusion highlights the importance of embedding energy usage in socio-material systems, tackling questions related to collective conventions, for example, as well as notions of sufficiency. While the policy and technological dimensions of energy distribution are easier to account for in country reviews, the collective conventions that hold together everyday practices that use energy services would merit further study.

A B S T R A C T In a new environment marked by the growing importance of Green House Gas emissions, fuel poverty, and energy efficiency in the different national agendas, the comprehension of energy demand factors appears to be crucial for the effectiveness of energy policies. We consider the latter could be improved by targeting specific household groups rather than looking to follow a single energy consumption level target. This article explores the scope of having a disaggregated energy consumption market to design policies aimed at curbing residential energy consumption or lowering its carbon intensity. Using a clustering method based on the CHAID (Chi Square Automatic Interaction Detection) methodology, we find that the different levels of energy consumption in the French residential sector are related to socioeconomic , dwelling and regional characteristics. Then, we build a typology of energy-consuming households where targeted groups (fuel poor, high income and high consuming households) are clearly and separately identified through a simple and transparent set of characteristics. This classification represents an efficient tool for energy efficiency programs and energy poverty policies, but also for potential investors, which could provide specific and tailor made financial tools for the different consumer groups. Furthermore, our approach helps designing some energy efficiency score that could reduce the rebound effect uncertainty for each identified household group.

Flexibility is emerging as an increasingly sought after property in electricity systems. After decades of fossil fuel based power generation, system operators are facing difficult times, if conventional plants are increasingly displaced by less controllable renewable sources of electricity. Alongside calls for enhanced networks and storage, the demand side is expected to become flexible for the benefit of the system. The value of the technical potential is said to be as high as £5 billion per year. This paper systematically reviews flexibility as a dynamic property on supply and demand side. In doing so it attempts to shift the perspective from 'what flexibility is for' to 'where flexibility comes from'. Eight mechanisms of demand side flexibility are identified and illustrated with a range of examples highlighting the origins and costs associated with providing them. Parallels and differences with supply side flexibility are exposed and discussed. This approach leads to the conclusion that even seemingly automated forms of demand response rely to a large degree on flexibility of energy users. Common currencies of flexibility include material, skill, time and space. To better understand the potential of demand side flexibility, this paper calls for more dynamic and larger scale studies, which not only capture observable load shifts, but also explore the underlying dynamics and broad range of factors which can inhibit flexibility. * [email protected]

This paper addresses the question of whether the evidence on positive relationship between environmental attitudes and household energy consumption in advanced postindustrial societies can be extended to emerging economies. In this study, we focused on electricity use and utilized multivariate regression to test the above hypothesis on a sample of residents of Óbuda (Budapest) in February 2011. The analysis suggests that the findings on the positive environmental attitude-behaviour relationship in advanced post-industrial societies can be extended to some (relatively affluent) communities in post-socialist societies. Our data also showed that the effects of housing type and demography are much larger compared to the effects of the attitudes. We emphasize that our findings do not provide evidence against the hypothesis on the interaction between the effects of societal culture and individual attitudes on pro-environmental behaviour.

Energy-saving is a very important issue that affects the end-users, power system quality and the global environment. Through the periodic energy bills of various energy agencies in Oman, it is possible to search for the causes of excessive consumption to reduce it with the search for the optimal solution with alternative energy sources. The main task of this research work is to help to reduce the electricity and energy costs by using Demand Side Management (DSM) approaches represented by the application of certain rationalization principles of energy usage and by using a model predictive control (MCP). As a result of that, an optimization algorithm for large-scale dynamic systems that take account of electricity costs, the work cycle, user requirements, system constraints and other input information is developed. The work used qualitative data from the perspective of the consumer, which was collected directly by the researcher or obtained from various sources related to the problem. An energy side management or simply energy demand response is proposed which ensures the optimum use of the equipments in the frame of a smart house.

Provision of modern energy services for cooking (with gaseous fuels) and lighting (with electricity) is an essential component of any policy aiming to address health, education or welfare issues; yet it gets little attention from policy-makers. Secure, adequate, low-cost energy of quality and convenience is core to the delivery of these services. The present study analyses the energy consumption pattern of Indian domestic sector and examines the urban–rural divide and income energy linkage. A comprehensive analysis is done to ...

From 2016-2019, the Indian Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) distributed over 80 million Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) stoves, making it the largest clean cooking program ever. Yet, evidence shows widespread continued use of the traditional chulha, negating the potential health benefits of LPG. Here we use semi-structured interviews with female and male adults to understand the drivers of LPG usage in Mulbagal, Karnataka, the site of a proto-PMUY program. We find that respondents perceive the main value of LPG to be saving time, rather than better health. We also find that norms of low female power in the household, in addition to costs, delay saving for and ordering LPG cylinder refills. Namely, female cooks controlled neither the money nor the mobile phone required to order a timely refill. These factors together contribute to the "refill gap": the period of non-use between refilling cylinders, which may range from days to even months. Our work reveals how gender norms can amplify affordability challenges in low-income households.

The aim of this research is estimating the relationship between energy consumption, carbon (iv) oxide emission and industrial production. This relationship would be established for both Nigeria and South Africa. Time series data inputs sourced from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) between 1980 and 2015 were used on the project. The usual preliminary analysis and formal tests were performed on the data before the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) was applied in the model estimation. The choice of the ARDL was due to the results obtained from the formal tests, especially the unit root tests. The model estimation for the data took into account the need to lag the data to be able to achieve stationary property. Both short run and long run estimates were generated. Diagnostic tests were also carried out on the estimated models. The results coefficients for energy consumption and carbon (iv) oxide emission were obtained for short and long run for Nigeria and for only short run for South Africa. Conclusions and policy recommendations were then made to the government in line with the results of the model estimation. Top of the list is the regulation of energy consumption and carbon footprint via policies in the effort to increase industrial production.
Keywords: Energy Consumption,CO2 Emissions,Industrial production,Nigeria,South Africa,Models

This paper considers the role of occupants' efforts on reducing space-heating costs of panel apartments linked to district heating systems. We present the findings of a questionnaire survey conducted among residents of North-West Budapest (Hungary). Our results show limited efforts in the panel housing context, but a greater access to appropriate information about (limited) opportunities could significantly alleviate the burden on the households trapped in an inadequate space-heating regime.

High-rise residential buildings are increasing worldwide, including cities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Therefore, creating sustainable environments in and around these residential buildings are becoming an important problem. Improving energy efficiency in buildings has received critical attention worldwide. Countries have developed national sustainability strategies that lead to the lower energy consumption while maintaining comfort, reducing energy consumption, and minimizing harmful emissions. In this paper, an analysis of the impact of external shading devices in high-rise residential buildings on energy consumption of a 13-storey building in Sulaimani city is studied. The study is focused on fixed shading elements, explaining the influence of the design of vertical and horizontal shading devices on the total energy consumption of this type of building. The results show that both a single fixed horizontal blind with a depth of 20 cm and a triple vertical shading with the sam...

In recent years, sensor networks are often deployed in several geographical regions to study certain phenomena. In this case, it may therefore happen that it is necessary to send a message to all the nodes of one or more regions for example to ask them to go into sleep mode. This problem is known in the literature as geographical routing (geocast). Several works have been proposed to solve this problem. In this paper we propose an energy-efficient and secured geocast protocol for a WSN deployed in space with data guarantee delivery to all nodes placed in one or more geocast regions. Our protocol consists of two major parts which are complementary and in addition of being secured, it is energy-efficient due to the fact that few messages are exchanged between the sensors during the first part of the algorithm.

Our research investigates the magnitude of the effect of residential energy efficiency audit programs on later household electricity consumption. These programs are designed to increase awareness of household energy consumption with personalized feedback that will eventually lead to behavioral changes. In this type of survey, there is only a one-time interaction between households, which participate voluntarily, and the surveyors. The objective of this study is to determine whether and to what extent such surveys lead to behavioral changes. We argue that the perceived complexity of the survey feedback will determine whether the subsequent behavior is sustainable. Then we analyze how persistent the intervention is over time and whether the effects decay or intensify. However, the main evaluation problem involving these surveys is self-selection bias. To correct for this bias, we propose two non-parametric estimators by using a kernel-based propensity score matching approach. In the first method, we use “difference-in-differences” (DID) estimations. The second estimator is quantile DID, which produces estimates on distributions. The comparison group consists of households who were not yet participating in the survey but participated later. The evidence suggest that the customers who participated in the survey reduced their electricity consumption by 6.7%, compared with customers who had not yet participated in the survey. In addition, as the quantiles of the distribution increase, the effect of the program decreases.

Energy saving and efficient energy appliances are the most highlighted subject in the present time, especially in Egypt due to the current energy crises. Air conditioners, refrigerators and freezers are major energy users in a household environment. Hence efficiency improvement of these appliances can be considered as an important step to reduce their energy consumption along with environmental pollution prevention. Without the information provided by labels, consumers and other end-users are often unable to make an informed decision about the true cost of a product, and manufacturers lack the incentive to improve the energy performance of it as there is no way for the market to recognize and value this aspect.  Standards ensure that the worst performing products are removed from the market, while labels encourage consumers to purchase increasingly more efficient products.
The objective of this study is to investigate energy consumption of refrigerators that have high demand in the Egyptian market, where, refrigerator is considered as basic domestic appliances. The study is motivated by the desperate need to save energy and improve the environment conditions. In the course of this study, detailed information about the current market for domestic refrigerators was gathered and analyzed to find factors influencing the penetration of energy efficient domestic refrigerators into national markets in Egypt.  The results of this study may be considered as a marketing guide that helps diffusion of Energy Efficiency (EE) concept in, Egypt.
The study showed that implementation of energy efficiency standers for refrigerator is economically reliable. The consumers will pay higher purchase prices for appliances, but will get lower electricity bill. Also, on the average energy consumption of class (A) refrigerators are about 81% of class (B), 72% of class (C), 66% of class (D) and 40% of class (E).

Environmental problems in the energy system often originate from everyday activities and choices. Everyday activities in the home are part of the private sphere, that can be contested in relation to energy policies. This article discusses the public-private divide in energy policies and how Swedish municipal energy consultants understand the divide. By analyzing the actions of energy consultants and their efforts to influence households, as well as how households perceive this guidance, I will discuss the public-private discourse in relation to energy policy and how this discourse can be a restriction for the energy consultants to reach their full potential.

The consultants found it problematic to discuss behavioral issues because they did not know how to relate to peoples everyday life activities without intruding on private and personal matters. For the households tailored information and feedback was not perceived as the consultant trespassing in the private sphere. Instead, the householders highlight the possibilities of such mapping. Lessoned learned from Sweden is that state subsidies to local energy consultants is a good way to reach households, but that they need to develop their methods and use more tailored information.

The paper is particularly concerned with developing a proposed energy guide label for household refrigerator-freezers through consumer research. Survey work conducted throughout Malaysia to develop a comprehensive energy guide label. A simple labeling design with different features and colors was also performed using the labeling concept of other countries (such as Australia, Thailand, and from the EU). There are many steps to implement a labeling program for a particular energy consuming appliance, such as consumer/stakeholder involvement, design, policy makers' involvement and so on. So, this is a vast area of work. This paper mainly focuses on consumer research in designing or shaping a comprehensive label. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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