Decreasing the Residential Energy Consumption: Habitual Behaviours of Occupants

Abstract

In the residential sector, energy demand may be divided mainly into six different types of final energy use: cooking, air heating, water heating, air cooling, lighting and other electric equipment. The energy consumption associated with the different energy services is influenced by the way consumers use each of them, making consumers playing an important role on residential energy consumption. In fact, up to 20 % energy savings can be achieved by actions targeting behaviour. In this work, it is identified, considering the Portuguese reality, the equipment with more potential for behaviour change actions in the residential sector. The equipment were selected using a set of criteria: 1) the ownership rate of the equipment, 2) its annual energy consumption, 3) its load diagram shape and 4) the availability of general quantitative data. Considering these criteria, it was concluded that, among 25 different residential equipment, the most suitable for actions targeting behaviour are lighting systems, washing machine, refrigerator, television, computer and dishwasher. For each equipment, the most relevant consumers’ behaviour associated with each one was identified. Moreover, behaviour change actions were linked to demand-side management actions by consideration the load diagram of each equipment. Accordingly, the behaviours were categorized according to the type of loads they represent: 1) investment dependent loads: all the identified equipment except the television and computer, 2) deferrable loads: washing machine and dishwasher, 3) loads responding to changeable parameter settings: refrigerator and 4) loads prone to energy conservation actions: all the identified equipment.



Author Information
Catarina Miguel Correia Sabino, University of Coimbra, Portugal
António Gomes Martins, University of Coimbra, Portugal

Paper Information
Conference: ECSEE2014
Stream: Cultural Sustainability: Protecting

This paper is part of the ECSEE2014 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon