Energy consumption in the residential sector: a study on critical factors

Abstract

In recent years, lots of efforts have been devoted to the identification of the factors influencing residential energy consumption. Many factors affect energy consumption at the same time, leading to the lack of precision when identifying which factors are significant. This paper reports the results of performing factor analysis for examining the factors affecting residential energy consumption. Data gathered through interviews and surveys with the residents and of housing units in Tehran (capital of Iran) are used for this purpose. The database applied comprises 56 predictors, for 2087 observations. Thirteen latent factors related to households’ energy consumption were shown by the data. Finally, a regression model was employed in order to recognise the most important factors. The amount of electricity and natural gas consumption was used as the dependent variable in the regression model. The results obtained can help prioritise efforts for modifying parameters in order to reduce the energy consumption in the residential sector.

Keywords:

• energy consumption
• factor analysis
• residential sector
• latent factors