Qualitative Study on Electricity Consumption of Urban and Rural Households in Chiang Rai, Thailand, with a Focus on Ownership and Use of Air Conditioners

Aya Yoshida,Panate Manomivibool,Tomohiro Tasaki,Pattayaporn Unroj

doi:10.3390/su12145796

Aya Yoshida, Panate Manomivibool + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145796

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Abstract

This study investigated the differences in household energy consumption between urban and rural households in northern Thailand, with a particular focus on air-conditioner ownership and use. In-depth visits to 32 households in Chiang Rai were undertaken in 2016 and 2017. The data collection covered six aspects: household attributes, ownership of electric appliances, use of air conditioners (ACs), intentions to conserve electricity, desire to purchase electric appliances in the future, and prospects for a future lifestyle. Traditional stilt houses can still be found in rural areas, but ACs have been introduced as rural houses have modernized. The typical period of AC use in rural areas was 2 to 4 months during summer. In urban households, ACs were used for a longer period, from 3 to 12 months each year. In addition, rural households usually used ACs for only a few hours each day before sleeping, whereas urban households often used them while they slept and some used them throughout the day. Households with children and grandchildren tended to use the AC for longer periods. These results suggest that promotion of environmentally friendly lifestyles for younger adults to control overuse of ACs would be key to reducing energy consumption in the future.

Highlights

With the rapid economic growth and urbanization in Southeast Asian countries, primary energy demand in Southeast Asia grew by about 76% between 2000 and 2017, from 382 to 674 million tonnes of oil equivalent
Three-generation households constituted the largest proportion of households, whereas one- or two-person households were the largest categories in urban Chiang Rai (Figure 2, see Appendix A for the detailed data)
The National Statistics Office (NSO) categorizes five different income levels for socio-economic classes, but the classes are different in urban and rural areas because income levels are generally higher in urban areas

Summary

Introduction

With the rapid economic growth and urbanization in Southeast Asian countries, primary energy demand in Southeast Asia grew by about 76% between 2000 and 2017, from 382 to 674 million tonnes of oil equivalent. Because of the humid tropical climate of Southeast Asia and recent global warming, the number of cooling degree days (i.e., days when air conditioning is needed) is increasing. The ownership and use of air conditioners (ACs) are projected to increase in Southeast Asia in the future [2,3]. The high energy demand for cooling by ACs, on the one hand, helps to improve the quality of life and productivity of people in warm and humid climates like Thailand. It may cause additional global warming and environmental degradation

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