Abstract
The increase in electricity demand, coupled with drastic deficit in energy generation and depleting conventional energy resources continues to create complex challenges for the energy market in Ghana. But Energy Efficiency (EE) in lighting and air-conditioning has been considered as a green area for reducing energy consumption. The manufacturing sector has been considered as a key area for the implementation of energy efficiency practices. This paper presents a survey to assess the drivers to energy efficiency in lighting and air-conditioning systems from the perspective of two manufacturing industries. Questionnaires were distributed to 260 employees in two manufacturing industries in Ghana. Key informant interviews were carried with four respondents. The impact of employee gender, department of work and job position in mediating the drivers of EE was also assessed using correlation analysis. The results showed that the staff of manufacturing industries sees the availability of information on energy efficiency measures, staff awareness and knowledge and the availability of funds as leading driversto energy efficiency development. Also providing incentives in the form of awards to employees for energy efficiency participation was shown to be effective in the implementation of EE measures.The inferential statistics showed that employees’ gender, department and job position predict the barriers to energy efficiency in the manufacturing industries. However, few of the drivers of energy efficiency are not dependent on gender, department of work and job position. Key words: Energy efficiency, energy consumption, drivers.
Highlights
The increase in electricity demand, coupled with drastic deficits in energy generation and depleting conventional energy resources continue to create complex challenges for the energy market in Ghana
For lighting and air-conditioning (AC) in industries, EE measures have involved the use of efficient lighting devices, energy labelling of new refrigerators, SWH instead of diesel, gas or electric boilers, high efficient motors, and properly adjusting HV AC and steam boilers to save an average of 15% on energy consumption (Bose, 1992; Mahmoud and Ibrik, 2002; Ibrik and Mahmoud, 2005)
The study results show that over 60% of respondents agree that lack of information on EE measures is a key driver of EE as against 20.8% that disagreed
Summary
The increase in electricity demand, coupled with drastic deficits in energy generation and depleting conventional energy resources continue to create complex challenges for the energy market in Ghana. Demand for electricity in Ghana which has since 2006 to 2016 increased by 52% is challenged by factors including persistent outages (Kemausuor et al, 2011; Gyamfi et al, 2015; Kumi, 2017). Exploring an empirical study that examines opportunities for energy efficiency is critical (Allcott and Greenstone, 2012)
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