Influence of Changing Behavior and High Efficient Appliances on Household Energy Consumption in Thailand

Abstract

Energy consumption in the commercial and residential buildings in Thailand has been increasing at a rate of five per cents a year. Concerning this issue, the Thai government has launched several campaigns to promote energy saving habits and replacement of high energy efficient appliances. However, those campaigns do not demonstrate how large impact of such activities on energy saving in households. This research aims at investigation of the potential of energy savings from changing behavior and high energy efficient appliances in the detached houses in Bangkok neighborhood areas. The latin hypercube method was used to generate two hundred combinations of forty-eight variables covering occupancy schedules and energy efficient home appliances. Such data set was then used to perform total energy consumption by using the eQuest 3.65 model. The regression coefficient, ß, was used to identify the most influent parameters on home energy consumption. It was found that changing behavior on higher-wattage appliance significantly affects the total energy consumption. The most significant activities affecting energy consumption are using electric fans instead of air conditioners when the room temperature is acceptable, upgrading plasma TV to LED TV, and replacing fluorescent light bulbs with LED bulbs.