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There is a great interest from the European Union in measuring the efficiency of energy use in households, and this is an area where EDP has done research in both data collection and methodology. This paper reports on a survey of electric energy use in Portuguese households, and reviews and extends the analysis of how efficiently households use electrical energy. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate household electrical energy efficiency in different regions using econometric analysis of the survey data. In addition, the same methodology was applied to a time-series data set, to evaluate recent developments in energy efficiency.

The paper describes the application to Portuguese households of a new approach to evaluate energy efficiency, developed by Filippini and Hunt (2011, 2012) in which an econometric energy demand model was estimated to control for exogenous variables determining energy demand. The variation in energy efficiency over time and space could then be estimated by applying econometric efficiency analysis to determine the variation in energy efficiency.

The results obtained allowed the identification of priority regions and consumer bands to reduce inefficiency in electricity consumption. The time-series data set shows that the expected electricity savings from the efficiency measures recently introduced by official authorities were fully realized.

This approach gives some guidance on how to introduce electricity saving measures in a more cost effective way.

This paper outlines a new procedure for developing useful tools for modelling energy efficiency.

The key purpose of this paper is to quantify the size of the energy-efficiency gap (EEG) for air conditioners at the household level in Delhi. Most of the studies in the EEG tradition broadly define EEG as the difference between the actual and optimal level of energy efficiency. The optimal level of energy efficiency is defined at the societal level (that weigh social costs against social benefits) and the private level (that weigh private costs against private benefits).

The authors base the empirical results in this study on the basis of the primary data collected through in-person interviews of the high-income urban households in Delhi in 2014-2015. The sample of 101 households was collected through purposive random sampling. The survey data include information on type and number of AC possessed, hours of operations, socioeconomic characteristics and awareness and habits of households.

Using primary data of 101 high-income urban household, the paper finds that average EEG is about 10 per cent of total electricity demand of ACs at the household level. The maximum current saving potential measured as a difference between hypothetical energy consumption, if everyone adopts five star ACs, and actual energy consumption is estimated about 14 per cent of the total electricity demand of ACs. Results from the ordinary least squares regressions demonstrate that individual’s habits, attitude, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions significantly determine the size of the EEG. Among other things, authors’ empirical analysis shows that information can play a central role in guiding investment in energy-efficient technologies. From the analysis of improving access to understandable information about cost savings, payback period and emission reduction, it is found that full information leads to the significant reduction in the size of the expected private energy-efficiency gap from 10 to 2.98 per cent at the household level.

This paper tests the significance of non-economic and non-social factors in determining the size of the EEG. Apart from socioeconomic factors such as income, occupation and education, individual’s energy-conserving habits and attitudes, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions are other important factors found to have a significant negative impact on the size of the EEG. This is particularly important for the designing of information programs by policymakers for promoting energy-efficiency choices in view of the change that is required in the behavior and attitudes of the households.

In this study, authors try to estimate the size of the EEG of ACs for the high-income urban households in Delhi. The private energy-efficiency gap estimated at 10 per cent of the household demand for ACs indicates existing saving opportunity for the private households. It is found that provision of comprehensive information about cost savings, payback period and emission reduction reduces the size of the EEG significantly from 10 to 2.72 per cent at the private level. This highlights the existence of limited and incomplete information in the market about the possible costs and benefits of energy-efficiency investments. This paper tests the significance of non-economic and non-social factors in determining the size of the energy-efficiency gap. Apart from socioeconomic factors such as income, occupation and education, individual’s energy-conserving habits and attitudes, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions are other important factors found to have a significant negative impact on the size of the EEG. This is particularly important for the designing of information programs by policymakers for promoting energy-efficiency choices in view of the change that is required in the behavior and attitudes of the households.

The Kosova Government is promoting energy efficiency and the purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to the efforts being made, in the form of a household survey which visited 2,370 homes in the capital city Prishtina.

Student teams from the American University in Kosovo (AUK) conducted the survey under faculty guidance and their collected data provide valuable information.

The survey indicates that Kosova's progress on energy efficiency is not far behind the EU requirements.

The AUK survey results are from the most densely populated area of Prishtina and so these results will be of special interest to the city planners.

The survey indicates that an average of 7.58 m³ of wood is consumed per home annually. From the data for all homes, 78 per cent heat one to three rooms and for the medium‐size category it was 83 per cent. For all homes in the phase 1 survey, 62 per cent spend between 10‐30 per cent of family income on electricity. The weighted average of the electricity costs in a medium‐size home is €63 each Winter month. The government therefore needs to effectively implement appropriate incentives or subsidies to promote a wide household energy efficiency program. Using an average wood cost of €35 to €40/m³ and the 1.525 million m³/year total consumption, the total wood revenue is €60.6 million.

There also needs to be thousands of smaller personal investments for household high efficiency wood stoves. Both types of investments will reduce Kosova's environmental problem of particulates from ash.

The combined Phase 1 and Phase 2 surveys are expected to provide the most comprehensive household energy survey ever conducted in the Balkans.

Although the term “energy efficiency” is technologically focused, it has a behavioural content due to the associated energy conservation practice involved. The technology aspect applies essentially to the application of new or better technology in order to derive same output or level of service for less input energy, while the conservation aspect is attributed to behaviour. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In an attempt to expound on this understanding, a social survey of some households in Bauchi town, Nigeria was undertaken so as to seek ways of improving the energy use situation of the country. The principal objective is to determine the influence of human behaviour in energy efficiency delivery in the households.

The result reveals a much low level of energy efficiency practice by the occupants due largely to lack of awareness and requisite knowledge on the phenomenon of energy efficiency.

Finally, the study highlights on the implications of good energy efficiency practice in household energy use as derived from the present as well as past studies in a bid to attain energy sufficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to seek ways to improve energy efficiency in the residential building sector of Nigeria. This is necessary so as to promote a wider scope of energy efficiency practice in order to reduce energy demand on the central power supply of the nation and as well-attain reasonable level of energy security.

However, the objective of the study is to propose a strategic plan (scheme) of energy efficiency practice for the housing sector of the Nigerian economy. To accomplish this task, a review of the main issues of energy efficiency; the current energy situation in Nigeria; and the challenges to implementing energy efficiency in the country was undertaken.

Finally, remedial measures to achieving energy efficiency in the Nigerian households were proffered by the provision of a “strategic scheme” to be accomplished by the government and the housing stakeholders.

It is evident that a strategic plan or framework must be put in place in order to overcome the challenges of energy efficiency in the residential building sector. And this framework is to adequately address the issues of design practice, the efficiency of appliances in use and the housing occupant behaviour.

The main goal is the attainment of energy-efficient households in Nigeria through the application of EE practice strategies.

The study highlights on the energy development level of the country. It has also identified the numerous barriers as well as the principal actors to achieving energy-efficient households in Nigeria. After all, the suggested “plan of action” as provided in the scheme is to serve as a benchmark and reference point to the government, the housing stakeholders as well as the housing occupant for the attainment of energy efficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to explore Taiwan’s regional energy efficiency trend and complement the work of the total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) index proposed by Hu and Wang (2006). It further extends panel data stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) modeling for estimating disaggregate energy efficiency.

This paper applies the panel data stochastic production frontier to estimate the TFEE scores for 20 administrative regions in Taiwan over the period 2004-2015. The SFA models include five inputs (employed population, amount of productive electricity power consumed, amount of electricity consumed for household and non-household electric lighting, amount of gasoline sales, and amount of diesel sales) and one output (total real income in the base year of 2011).

This research concludes with three main findings: the inefficient administrative regions of Taiwan include mostly large industrial parks and the petrochemical industry cluster; the top five administrative regions with inefficient diesel use are mostly metropolitan areas that the concern of air pollution caused by diesel system arouses the awareness to use less diesel fuel; and the average TFEE score on household and non-household electric lighting is higher than the usage efficiency of productive electricity power, gasoline, and diesel, but there is still room for efficiency improvement.

Most administrative regions in Taiwan are not efficient in almost all kinds of energy use. The results show that the efficiencies of using productive electricity power, gasoline, and diesel need to be improved a lot more.

The current literature has not investigated the perceived value of energy efficiency by households, regardless of financial benefits. Furthermore, there is a severe lack of research that investigates the effectiveness of the current format of EPC-labels. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is twofold: to study how households value energy efficiency in the housing market, regardless of price effects.

This study uses multiple hedonic regression models to analyse 706,778 Flemish properties for sale or rent between 2019 and 2023. The data is provided by Immoweb – the largest online real estate platform in Belgium. Given that the selling market is driven by different mechanisms than the rental market, the data set was divided in sold (522,164 listings) and rented properties (184,614 listings).

The ambiguous results of the A-label in the selling market indicate that the “class evaluation effect” found in related markets which use labels (e.g. household appliances) is also present in the housing market. However, the results of the other (lower) labels clearly show that owners do value energy improvements within labels, and this effect becomes stronger as the EPC-label becomes better. The rental market shows the opposite results. Energy improvements are only valued if they translate into a financial benefit. Taking these findings into account, the second part of this research shows that rescaling the EPC-label creates an incentive for improvements within labels.

This paper provides novel insights by studying the perceived value of energy efficiency in the absence of financial benefits and critically studying the effectiveness of the EPC-labels in their current shape. By investigating both the sales and rental market, the authors are able to make a comparison which creates valuable insights for academia, governments and real estate professionals.

Energy conservation literacy within households is a contemporary and topical issue globally. However, scant research has been conducted on energy-saving literacy amongst Ghanaian households. To substantiate the problem, this paper aims to examine energy conservation literacy and behaviours among Ghanaian households in the Greater Accra Region.

The study assessed household electricity use and explored determinants of household energy conservation behaviours. Data was collected through a survey administered to households within the target region and analysed using descriptive statistics and Spearmen’s rank correlation.

Results showed electricity conservation among households is greatly influenced by the number of household occupants, household income levels, and the quality and quantity of appliances. The study also found that conservation behaviours are positively correlated to the number of occupants, household income levels, the quantity of electrical appliances, age of household members, number of rooms and level of urbanization within the home’s geographical region. Cumulatively, the findings suggest households held positive attitudes towards efficient energy practices. Enigmatically, the use of energy-conserving alternative technologies was not widely used by households; hence, this factor does not significantly affect household energy conservation.

Although limited to Ghana’s capital region, the findings can be used to inform policy and regulations at the regional and national levels in designing an efficient and effective mechanism to reduce the country’s overall energy use.

Premised upon the findings, the study recommends an intensification of education and awareness-creation on various energy-saving regulations and initiatives and thorough education on the usage of standardized (approved) refrigerators to promote the consistent adoption of energy conservation measures among households.

This study pioneers investigations into the influence of household demographic variables on overall electricity conservation behaviours exhibited by Ghanaian households

The escalating levels of greenhouse gas emissions have become a growing global concern, with household energy consumption emerging as a significant contributor. To develop effective public policies, it is crucial to understand the energy-saving behavior of households. This study delves into the determinants of energy-saving practices in a developing country.

The authors chose a multivariate probit model, as it allowed to look after possible correlations among seven energy-saving practices within households.

The findings underscore the significant influence of sociodemographic variables, such as gender, civil status, income and education, on energy-saving practices. Furthermore, the authors discovered that households where the head actively volunteers in social organizations are more likely to adopt energy-saving behaviors. Additionally, internet access positively contributes to pro-environmental behavior. This research reveals that certain energy-saving practices are interconnected, acting as complements or substitutes.

Recommendations for public policy include prioritizing education in rural areas to boost energy-saving practices, improving internet access in nonurban regions and promoting citizen involvement in social organizations to enhance environmental awareness and encourage energy-saving behavior. The authors contribute to literature evidencing that certain energy-saving practices are not independent of each other, they are rather complementary and, in some cases, substitutes.

Recommendations for public policy include prioritizing education in rural areas to boost energy-saving practices, improving Internet access in nonurban regions and promoting citizen involvement in social organizations to enhance environmental awareness and encourage energy-saving behavior.

Previous studies have overlooked these interdependencies, highlighting the necessity of a system of equations to yield more efficient estimates by considering correlations between error terms.

This paper aims to present a systematic scoping review of the influences of some situational factors on the energy consumption behaviour of households. Household’s energy choice and manner of utilization define its energy consumption behaviour; it is a key factor in determining the energy efficiency of households. Despite the energy-efficient technological innovations and awareness on environmental/health implications of using certain energy sources and technologies, households still use inefficient, traditional energy sources and technologies. Some researchers have attempted to use economic and psychological theories to explain the situation with the hope of achieving a change in behaviour towards sustainable energy utilization but to no avail. This is because the theories fail to consider situations beyond individuals or households. A clear understanding of situational factors and how they influence household energy behaviour will provide information that will aid deeper research and policy formulation towards sustainable energy behaviour of households.

A scoping systematic review of available literature regarding real-life cases in both developed and developing countries was carried out to determine the possibility of situational factors affecting household energy choices and utilization.

The result of the review showed that situational factors have a significant influence on household’s energy consumption. The main policy implications observed are the need for laws that will encourage energy-saving renovations in houses, make compulsory the provision of recreational facilities in residential areas to reduce in-home energy consumption. The need for increased access to electricity and other efficient energy sources and cooking technologies has also been observed. Intensive awareness campaigns are required to disabuse the minds of people about cultural issues that mitigate improved cook stove adoption.

The paper provides information on the influence of some of the factors, which affect energy consumption in households, which fluctuate depending on the current situation of the consumer and are time-bound (situational factors). The information will help policymakers and regulators to understand the influence of situational factors on household energy consumption, thereby enabling them to make policies that will enhance sustainable energy consumption.