Energy Conservation and Awareness Practices of Households in the Cape Coast Metropolis

Abstract

This study explored energy conservation and awareness practices of households in the Cape Coast Metropolis. With the emergence of the contradictions between energy supply and demand, considerable attention has been paid to the residential household energy consumption with increasing research in this field. Concurrent Mixed method was adopted to assess the efficient use of electrical energy in the Cape Coast metropolis, examine the level of electrical energy conservation awareness among people of Cape Coast metropolis, determine energy-saving practices among people of Cape Coast, determine the sociodemographic factors that influence an individual’s choice of energy-efficient appliances and to assess variability in energy conservation practices among households in the Cape Coast metropolis. Simple random sampling was used to select 396 respondents for the quantitative while 5 stakeholders were interviewed for the qualitative aspect of the study. The study concluded that the level of energy conservation awareness among households in the cape coast metropolis is low and that households engaged in their own perceived energysaving practices. Variables such as years of schooling of household heads, expenditure, income, number of household members below 18years, and hours power goes off daily had direct relationship with households choice of electrical appliances. The study showed that there is a great level of variability existing between social strata and conservation practice of households with respect to the use of appliance such as fridge/freezer. The effect of social strata on the use of television, lightbulbs and fan was low although statistically, there is significant variation in the use of these appliances among households and across various social strata. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that education on energy conservation should be intensified until households become more conversant with the term ‘energy conservation’ and also, policies on energy conservation should be made well known to the public