Reducing household electrical energy consumption by improving occupants behaviour by feedback method

Abstract

The consumption of energy economically and efficiently is one of the crucial matters today. The utilization of earth natural resources for mass energy production not only stresses the depletion of ozone layer or enhances climate changes but also the increases energy prices and the financial plan of people. This study investigates the effect of behavioural change towards utilizing electrical appliances in households through indirect feedback method hoping to change their overall energy consumption in a way that it can be reduced. This study focused on 16 occupants from five different apartment units in a high-rise apartment building in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. Changing behavior towards utilizing electrical appliances efficiently is important in the long term; the most effective way is to ensure that people are familiar about the sensible ways in which they utilize their electrical appliances and ways in which it can affect the overall consumption. Moreover, to date no systematic investigation has been considered for household in Malaysia on this matter. (Three research questions motivate this research; what are the most common household electrical appliances that are available and used by the homes, in which manner and how frequently are the electrical appliances being utilized and how awareness can affect the behaviour of occupants to reduce their energy consumption). A quantitative method was used to conduct the study with two sets of survey questionnaire as a research instrument, distributed before and after the fieldwork. The findings from the research suggest that three units (unit 2, unit 3 and unit 5) decreased their overall electricity energy consumption level when two months of usage were compared. The electricity bill shows that unit 1 and unit 4 had an increment of 1.2% and 2% respectively, whereas unit 2, unit 3 and unit 5 reduced 0.3%, 2.3% and 0.6% respectively. It was concluded that positive behavioural changes were seen when the overall electrical energy consumption had been reduced in two units. Also, there were a few occupants whom though they are aware of how to utilize the electrical appliances efficiently; they did not show any behavioural changes in utilizing them. 1% of energy reduction was fully observed following changes in behaviour.