A Survey on the Assessment of the Public’s Perception of Solar Energy as an Alternative Energy Source in Dar ES Salaam Tanzania

Abstract

Abstract: Solar energy is considered to be an alternative sustainable energy source in the urban environment. The main aim of this study is to learn what the general public thinks about solar energy. This study‘s main source of inspiration was the dearth of prior research in the area. The questionnaire were prepared to screen for the prevalence of solar energy system users. In total, 100 36 samples were examined for the purposes of this study. The findings revealed that among the respondents, 36, 3636% currently use 36% currently use solar energy for a variety of reasons, including 50% cost savings, 22% environmental sustainability, 17% solar power reliability, and 11% grid access. The findings show that 64 respondents do not currently use solar energy due to a number of reasons, including We found that out of 100 respondents, 70% were aware of the potential benefits of solar energy and only 30% were not. Our study found that 65 respondents’ families had an income of less than one million TZS per month. Therefore, Based on the results it can be concluded that for the general public in the Dar es salaam region, income was acknowledge as a barrier to switching to solar energy as an alternative energy source. The potential of using solar energy in urban areas is highly dependent on urban morphology which affects the level of solar irradiance received by individual buildings. It leads to inefficient design of neighborhoods in terms of solar energy potential. The present study investigates the potential of exploiting solar energy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania by using numerical modelling of solar irradiance on building roofs and façades. It is shown that there is substantial solar irradiance received by building roofs in all four study neighborhoods and urban morphology has considerable effects on annual solar irradiance. Solar irradiance of different orientations of tilted roofs and façades is subject to seasonality of the solar azimuth angle. It is suggested that such abundant solar energy sources would provide solutions to accommodate the increasing energy demand and to improve living quality in urban areas due to the rapid urbanization of the city.