Urban Residential Electricity Research Articles

Determinants of Urban Residential Electricity Consumption in Burkina Faso: A Study of Dwelling, Household, Socio-Economic and Appliance-Related Factors

This study analyses the dwelling, household, socio-economic and appliance-related determinants of urban domestic electricity use in Burkina Faso. A survey of 387 households in Ouagadougou was conducted and combined with their electricity use, collected from energy bills. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first large-scale, city-wide household electricity study undertaken in Burkina Faso. Linear regression models were applied to the data to assess the influence of household, dwelling, socio-economic and appliance-related factors on electricity use. Significant and unambiguous predictors of urban domestic electricity use included household income, dwelling tenure type and ownership, and use of lighting fixtures, television sets, fridges, fans, freezers and air conditioners. Dwelling, household and socio-economic factors explained 70.2% and 70.5% of the variance in electricity use, respectively, when combined with appliance ownership and use factors. This study provides an understanding of the driving factors of domestic electricity use and discusses the implications and applications of this research for a range of stakeholders in the electricity sector.

Prediction of urban residential electricity security based on Verhulst grey model

Abstract This paper firstly analyzes the urban residential electricity load characteristics and extracts residential electricity load data through a non-intrusive electricity load monitoring framework with electricity load characteristics. Secondly, the gray Verhulst model is improved by using function transformation and residual correction to further improve its prediction accuracy. Finally, a prediction example analysis is carried out for the electric load under urban residential electricity security. The results show that the maximum prediction error of the improved gray Verhulst model is 2.28%, which is 1.34 percentage points lower than the 3.62% of the genetic algorithm GM(1,1) model. This indicates that the prediction of urban residential electricity security can be achieved using the improved gray Verhulst model.

Urban residential water and electricity consumption behavior: A systematic literature review

Consumer behavior is an understudied determinant of residential water and electricity demand and, when studied, capturing, measuring, and quantifying attitudes and behaviors is often problematic. This research explores behavioral determinants of the demand for water and electricity, contributing a set of categories and items that may be useful for understanding knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to consumption and constructing valid scales. These results may help researchers capture the complexity of consumer behavior regarding water and electricity and decision-makers in designing tailored demand management strategies.

Urban domestic electricity consumption in relation to households’ lifestyles and energy behaviours in Burkina Faso: Findings from a large-scale, city-wide household survey

Information on actual domestic electricity use in Burkina Faso, where the urban zones and residential sector account for 74% and 33% respectively of the total electricity use, remains very challenging to find, as little research currently exists. This study aimed therefore, to provide the first ever insights into the actual urban residential electricity use. A survey with 387 households, the first large-scale, city-wide household electricity study undertaken in Burkina Faso to the authors’ knowledge, was conducted in the city of Ouagadougou. Information on the households' characteristics and behaviours were collected to yield a first comprehensive analysis on the actual city-scale domestic electricity use. Findings demonstrated an average electricity use of 2395 kWh/year by households. Cooling accounts for almost 40% of the total domestic electricity use, followed mainly by cooking and food preserving (23%) and information-communication-entertainment (19%) activities. Three groups of consumers were then formed based on their electricity use level, to investigate interactions between electricity use and households’ lifestyles. The study’s findings lay therefore, the foundations for a better understanding of actual urban domestic electricity use patterns and could help to develop more suitable policies and actions targeting energy conservation in the residential sector.

A Cross-Regional Heterogeneous Study of Urban Residential Electricity Consumption in China: Based on "Three Lines" Method

A Cross-Regional Heterogeneous Study of Urban Residential Electricity Consumption in China: Based on "Three Lines" Method

Exploring the impact of temperature change on residential electricity consumption in China: The ‘crowding-out’ effect of income growth

Under the background of global warming, the world is experiencing many extreme climate events. The temperature fluctuation associated with climate change is often considered as a primary driving force of electricity consumption. To better explore the impact of temperature on electricity consumption, this paper aims to analyze the question from the perspective of income growth, i.e., the moderating effect of income growth on the response of urban residential electricity to temperature changes. Using the unbalanced panel data of 23 cities in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration from 2004 to 2015, we construct the response model of residential electricity consumption to income growth, heating degree days, cooling degree days and their interactions. The results show that heating demand, cooling demand and income growth significantly increase residential energy consumption. However, urban residential disposable income growth weakens the positive effect of heating demand and cooling demand on residential electricity consumption. Because, urban residents have obvious demand for improving indoor heating comfort and cooling comfort, the moderating effect of income is shown as the crowding-out effect. Residents may adjust the structure of heating energy consumption (from electricity to natural gas) and upgrade their electrical equipment to high energy efficiency equipment, thereby reducing residential electricity consumption. This study also indicates that urban residential energy consumption is very sensitive to changes in permanent populations. The main contribution of this study is proposing the hypothesis of the negative moderating effect of income growth on temperature changes and expanding the response model of residential electricity consumption to temperature changes. Finally, this paper also proposes the adaptive strategies and policy implications for climate change.

Nexus between residential electricity consumption and household characteristics: heterogeneous urban and rural panel evidences from North China

With the growth of residential electricity consumption and the development of power energy conservation, exploring the factors that affect residential electricity consumption is of great significance for promoting the sustainable development of the regional economy-power system. This paper examines the influencing factors of residential electricity consumption according to the data in 6 provinces in North China over 2008-2018, and two panels named urban panel and rural panel are constructed. Three conventional influencing factors are selected in this paper, namely, population (POP), per capita disposable income (DI) and per capita consumption expenditure (PCCE). Furthermore, considering that household characteristics have an impact on residential electricity consumption, this paper adds the number of household appliances (HA) and the per capita housing area (LS) into the factor set. Heterogeneous panel analysis techniques are applied to achieve the analysis, finding that household characteristics have significant impacts on electricity consumption of urban and rural residents, and the impact on electricity consumption of urban residents is greater than that on rural residents. Based on the empirical results, this paper puts forward several policy recommendations to effectively improve the residential electricity consumption and reduce the gap between urban and rural residential electricity consumption.

Determining the Relationship between Residential Electricity Consumption and Factors: Case of Seoul

This paper aims to determine the relationship between residential electricity consumption and other factors by analyzing the correlation and multiple regression between residential electricity consumption and three variables which are known as the factors affecting residential electricity consumption. We used the electricity consumption, income, number of household members, and age of 25 autonomous districts in Seoul as data for analysis, assuming that the socio-demographic characteristics vary from district to district in Seoul. The results showed that the electricity consumption and the three variables each had a significant correlation. However, multiple regression analysis results showed that the income and the number of household members have an effect on electricity consumption, but the average age is not a factor influencing electricity consumption. The results of this study would be useful for understanding the characteristics of urban residential electricity consumption in situations where the needs for an increase in residential electricity rates are continuously coming out.

Does Financial Development Increase Urban Electricity Consumption? Evidence from Spatial and Heterogeneity Analysis

The role of financial development (FD) in China’s environment has attracted extensive attention from scholars, but few studies involved the effect of FD on urban electricity consumption (EC). This paper constructs two spatial panel models to explore the interaction between FD and EC on the basis panel data of 278 cities in China from 2005 to 2016. The results show that electricity consumption of urban residents and industrial sector in China has obvious spatial correlation and unbalanced spatial distribution. Secondly, FD can promote urban industrial electricity consumption (IEC) and urban residential electricity consumption (REC), and it has a greater impact on REC than IEC. Thirdly, spatial heterogeneity is established, and the imbalance of REC and IEC among different regions and urban scales deserves more attention. FD is conducive to enhance REC and IEC in the eastern and western regions. Meanwhile, FD plays an important role in the increase of REC and IEC in small cities, large cities, and megacities of China. Considering the above results, this paper puts forward targeted policy recommendations.

Do different sizes of urban population matter differently to CO2 emission in different regions? Evidence from electricity consumption behavior of urban residents in China

Abstract Population size is closely related to anthropogenic CO2 emissions, but whether urban population size at different stages of population urbanization matters differently to CO2 emissions in regions at different development levels has not been paid much attention to. CO2 emissions induced by urban residential electricity consumption (REC) 1 has been a main component of urban indirect CO2 emissions, and it is jointly controlled by the electricity demand resulting from urban population size and the electricity intensity influenced by residents' consumption behavior in different socioeconomic environments. In this paper, through panel threshold regression, by controlling residents' behavior factors, the impact of urban population size on REC at the different stages of population urbanization was investigated in the eastern, central and western regions of mainland China respectively during 2000–2016. Results show that, urban population size always played a dominant role on REC, and there were significant regional heterogeneity and staged heterogeneity simultaneously in such impact. Overall, such impact always decreases first and then increases (U-shaped pattern) no matter as urban population grows or as regional development level increases. According to the different stages of urban population growth and their impacts on REC in each region, there are different reasonable ranges of urban population size for low-carbon development in the three regions respectively. The control variables of residents' electricity consumption behavior only contributed a minor effect on REC. Among them, technological progress and residential density had a minor inhibitory effect on REC, while average income and education level played a negligible promotion role on REC. Accordingly, policy implications for controlling reasonable size of urban population are provided for each region, as well as the measures to improve residents’ electricity-saving behavior from the socioeconomic perspective.

The impact of urbanization on China’s residential energy consumption

Against the background of the continuous development of urbanization, the urbanization process can lead to substantial changes in residential energy consumption and structures. Residential energy consumption has become the second-largest energy sector after the industrial sector. The paper studies the impact of urbanization on residential energy consumption using annual Chinese provincial data from 1996 to 2014. The results show the following. First, the impact of urbanization on residential energy consumption is heterogeneous across different per-capital income stages and urbanization stages. Second, urbanization has a positive effect on residential electricity consumption with a coefficient of 1.1 and shows heterogeneity across regions. Third, a higher urbanization rate leads to an increase in both urban and rural residential electricity consumption, with a more substantial impact on the latter. As a result, the increase in the urbanization rate contributes to shrinking the gap between urban and rural residential electricity consumption. Finally, based on the conclusions set forth above, policy implications for sustainable urbanization development under the energy constraints are given.

Is the implementation of the Increasing Block Electricity Prices policy really effective?--- Evidence based on the analysis of synthetic control method

The implementation of Increasing Block Electricity Prices (IBEPs) aims to guide residents towards electricity savings and rational energy use, but there are questions over the effectiveness of the IBEPs to achieve these goals. To this end, this paper uses residential IBEPs policy implemented in Sichuan Province of China in 2006 as a natural experiment to answer the question of whether IBEPs effectively regulate residents’ electricity demand. Synthetic control method (SCM) was used to evaluate the treatment effect of the policy. The paper finds that the IBEPs policy significantly reduces urban and rural residential electricity consumption. The per capita electricity consumption of urban residents fell by 26.87–100.76 kWh/year with an average of 51.40 kWh/year, equivalent to a decrease of 5.93%–17.50% and average of 11.17%. On the other hand, the per capita electricity consumption of rural residents decreased by 20.86–48.28 kWh/year with an average of 26.28 kWh/year, which is equivalent of a decreased of 7.8%–16.79% and average of 12.75%. Electricity demand in urban areas decreased more than in rural areas, but rural residents are more sensitive to IBEPs than urban residents. In order to achieve “equity” and “efficiency”, China needs to further improve the design mechanism of residential IBEPs.

Impact of tiered pricing system on China's urban residential electricity consumption: Survey evidences from 14 cities in Guangxi Province

The Chinese government has highlighted the crucial role of energy conservation in its 2014–2020 energy strategy plan, where the residential sector inevitably takes great responsibility. One big move was the implementation of the tiered-electricity pricing (TEP) system, which intends to motivate electricity saving behavior and address cross-subsidization issue. This paper therefore attempts to investigate the effectiveness of the TEP, i.e., whether the TEP has attained its anticipated electricity conservation outcome. The empirical study was carried out in 14 cities in China's Guangxi Province using a survey method. The survey data demonstrated that there were more than half of the respondents (52.8%) affirmed that the TEP had encouraged them to save electricity. Regression results show that the TEP performance was significantly associated with respondents' electricity expenditures and their income levels. Moreover, respondents' electricity-saving attitudes, awareness and literacy were also found to be the critical driving forces to improve the effectiveness of TEP. The key drawn policy implication is that the TEP price magnitudes should be increased further, while the adjustment of the magnitudes should not neglect residents' income levels.

Urban form, building characteristics, and residential electricity consumption: A case study in Tainan City

Which urban form factor most affects household electricity consumption? This study investigated the relationships between urban density, community layout, and land use factors and household electricity consumption simultaneously, along with building characteristics and demographic indicators. The study site involved 231 communities located in the former provincial area of Tainan City, Taiwan. Due to the area’s subtropical climate, air conditioning accounts for approximately 40% of the total yearly household electricity consumption. Of the urban form factors examined, greater population density was most strongly associated with lower household electricity consumption, followed respectively by greater urban canyon narrowness, or higher height to width ratios, and greater percentages of vacant space and building land use. Notably, both urban canyons and building land use percentages were associated with decreased consumption only after increasing past threshold levels, specifically a 1.5 height to width ratio and 40.7%, respectively. In addition, building characteristics, namely smaller household living areas and greater building age, were most strongly connected with lower household electricity consumption. In contrast, larger household living areas were linked with decreased household electricity consumption/floor area, revealing the importance of lower energy intensities of sizable scales. Of the demographic indicators studied, higher percentages of older adults were associated with lower household electricity consumption. Concerning urban form, the findings suggest that to reduce residential energy usage in a subtropical climate, buildings should be clustered to maximize the inter-building shadows resulting from narrower urban canyons, while simultaneously increasing non-built land use percentages in the adjacent areas.

System Dynamics Modeling of Lighting Electricity Demand in the Urban Residential Sector of Nepal

A significant portion of the total electricity is consumed in the residential sector of Nepal, mainly for lighting purpose. In this study, a model has been developed using the concept of system dynamics to analyze the dynamics of the changes in the urban residential lighting electricity demand up to the year 2030. A system dynamics modeling tool, Venism, has been used for this purpose. This study is useful for the utilities of companies for the power capacity expansion planning. Altogether three different scenarios have been developed. They are Reference Scenario (Ref), LED Lamp (LL) Scenario and Incandescent Lamp Remove (ILR) Scenario. The study has shown that lighting electricity consumption has already been in the decreasing trend due to the increasing use of Clear Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) and will be the minimum somewhere in the year between 2021 and 2022. Only a small portion of the total electricity will be consumed for lighting the household in the urban residential sector of Nepal in the coming decade. Therefore, government should focus the urban energy efficiency program for other uses of electricity such as cooking, water heating and water pumping etc. so that a significant amount of electricity can be saved in the urban households of Nepal. This study has also shown that there is no difference between the use of CFL and LED lamps from the energy saving point of view. Therefore, like the case of incandescent lamp and CFL, there is no need to encourage the people to buy LED lamp instead of CFL.The Journal of Development and Administrative Studies (JODAS)Vol. 23(1-2), pp. 33-54

Urban heat and residential electricity consumption: A preliminary study

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) is a well-documented phenomenon occurring in cities across the world resulting in city centres often being several degrees warmer than their surroundings. This local elevation in temperatures could potentially impact upon local energy consumption, with residents in the warmer central section of the city using more energy to cool their homes in summer and less energy to warm them in winter. This study uses a combination of Geographical Information System techniques and Remote Sensing data (MODIS LST and NDVI), as a preliminary investigation, to assess the spatial relationship between UHI, urban greenspace, household income and electricity consumption in Birmingham, UK. It provides simple and repeatable steps, based on freely available datasets, for urban planners, industry, human and physical geographers, and non-specialists to reproduce the analyses. The results show that, the present impact of the UHI is limited and instead highlights the dominance of household income over local climate in explaining consumption patterns across Birmingham.

Rebound effects for residential electricity use in urban China: an aggregation analysis based E-I-O and scenario simulation

Technological progress is considered an important means of decreasing energy consumption. However, rebound effects caused by energy efficiency improvements directly affect the realization of energy savings and emission reduction. This paper focuses on the main theory and methodology of direct and indirect rebound effects. Using 30 sets of provincial panel data and national input–output data for China from 2007, this paper builds a co-integrating equation, a panel error correction model, and an 8-sector energy-input–output model. We subsequently estimate the direct and indirect rebound effects of urban residential electricity use. The results indicate that in the long term the direct plus indirect partial rebound effect is 0.79; in the short term it is 0.78. Thus, the majority of the expected electricity reduction in Chinese urban residential energy consumption arising from efficiency improvement may be offset. These rebound effects impair the functioning of energy efficiency policies. Therefore, the Chinese government should not improve energy efficiency alone—they must also take into consideration the relevant energy-pricing reforms when formulating energy policies.

Direct rebound effect on urban residential electricity use: An empirical study in China

Though improving energy efficiency is an important approach to decrease the energy consumption, the rebound effect caused by technology progress negatively affects the effectiveness of energy efficiency policies. This paper empirically investigates direct rebound effect of urban residential electricity use in China. Using China's 30 provincial government panel data from1996 to 2010, we build a co-integration equation and a panel error correction model to analyze the direct rebound effect. The results indicate that an obvious rebound effect in the Chinese urban residential electricity consumption does exist. Specifically, the long-term rebound effect is 0.74, while the short-term rebound effect is 0.72. Therefore, the rebound effect significantly impairs functions of energy efficiency policies. For this reason, Chinese government should take the rebound effect into consideration when formulating energy policies.

Electricity tariff reform and rebound effect of residential electricity consumption in China

China has implemented increasing-block power tariffs. It might be a breakthrough in the country's stagnant residential power tariff reform. Improving energy efficiency is the primary method adopted by the Chinese government for energy conservation in residential sector. However, negative effects brought by energy rebound would weaken the real effect of efficiency improvement. Therefore, this paper focuses on the impact of residential electricity tariff adjustment on rebound effect of residential electricity consumption in China. We set up an LA-AIDS Model (linear approximation of the almost ideal demand system model) to estimate the rebound effect of urban residential electricity consumption. The results show that the rebound effect is approximately 165.22%. This figure manifests the existence of ‘backfire effect’, indicating that efficiency improvement does not have energy-saving effect in practice. After the implementation of increasing-block electricity tariff policy in China, the rebound is reduced to 132.3%. In addition, we also obtain the electricity tariffs at which the rebound effect is less than 1 or even close to zero. In this regard, for Chinese electricity market, electricity tariff reform might be an effective method for mitigating rebound effect.

Estimation of urban residential electricity demand in China using household survey data

This paper uses annual urban household survey data of Sichuan Province from 2007 to 2009 to estimate the income and price elasticities of residential electricity demand, along with the effects of lifestyle-related variables. The empirical results show that in the urban area of Sichuan province, the residential electricity demand is price- and income-inelastic, with price and income elasticities ranging from −0.35 to −0.50 and from 0.14 to 0.33, respectively. Such lifestyle-related variables as demographic variables, dwelling size and holdings of home appliances, are also important determinants of residential electricity demand, especially the latter. These results are robust to a variety of sensitivity tests. The research findings imply that urban residential electricity demand continues to increase with the growth of income. The empirical results have important policy implications for the Multistep Electricity Price, which been adopted in some cities and is expected to be promoted nationwide through the installation of energy-efficient home appliances.