A critical look at residential electricity conservation campaigns in a developing country environment

Gilbert0 De Martino Jannuzzi, Vanice Ferreira dos Santos, Marcello de Moura Campos Filho and Josii Kogi Fugiwara

This priper cincilyses survey results of' the &ctiveness of' information campaigns to proniore energy <ficiencj) among residential consuniers in Brazil. The survey ,found t l i r i t coiisutners krrve a relatively good knowledge of conservation measures to improve electricity usrige. Nevertheless, other approaches are needed to promote energy coiiservrition in the household sector.

The past several years have seen a rapid increase in electricity demand in Brazil. The data suggest that residential electricity demand is increasing, and that over time it may continue to increase, even if real incomes do not. Since the beginning of the 197Os, the country has more than tripled its installed electrical capacity. One impact of this increase in demand is the planned additional electrical capacity from hydro plants i n the Amazon region or from fossil-fuel thermal plants in others regions, both of which will worsen environmental problems.

Substantial potential for reducing residential con- sumption exists through the introduction and diffus- ion of more eflicient energy technologies, but most of the present efforts to reduce residential consumption in Brazil rely heavily on the dissemination of infor- mation on the behavioural aspects of energy conser- vation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the energy consumption behaviour of households as a result of a n information campaign which took place in

Gilbcrto Dc Martino Jannuzzi is a professor and Vanice Fcrrcira dos Santos is ii rcscarch student a t the Departa- nicnto dc Encrgia, Univcrsidadc Estadual de Campinas, C.P. 6122. CEP 13081, Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Mar- ccllo dc Moura Canipos Filho is a senior engineer and Jose Kogi Fugiwara is a statistician at Companhia Paulista dc Forca c Luz, Av. da Saudades, 1004, CEP 13040-, Cam pi t i a s . Sao Pa ulo. Brazil.

the state of Sao Paulo. This paper analyses the results of two surveys, one done prior to and one done after such a campaign.

The paper discusses those results, and comments on other approaches intended to introduce conservation measures into the residential sector, namely the pro- motion of new, more energy efficient technologies.

Residential electricity and conservation campaigns In Brazil, the residential sector is responsible for 20% of the total electricity consumed. That consumption has a high coincidence with the evening peak demand of most utilities. The main characteristics of resident- ial consumption are that nearly 45% of the total number of households have monthly consumption levels in the range 51-150 kWh, which represents about 30% of total consumption [2,3]. About 70% of residential consumption is concentrated in three end- uses: water heating, refrigerators and lighting.

Most Brazilian residential electricity conservation campaigns have been of the information type. A great deal of the work in conservation campaigns is under- taken by the marketing and commercial departments of the Brazilian utilities. Their efforts are largely directed to the production of printed material, bro- chures, manuals and guides showing ways to conserve electricity in homes. The National Electricity Conser-

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Resirlentid conservution cumpuigns: G. De Murtino Junnuizi et al

Table 1. Residential electricity demand: Brazil and Cosmopolis

Consumption Class (kWh/month) 0-50 51-100 101-150 151-200 20 1-300 Above 300 Total

Brazil Consumer(%) 22.2 19.6 19.9 13.8 14.2 10.3 27.43 x 1 0 6

Demand( %) 3.5 9.6

16.0 15.5 22.0 33.4 5 I . O TWh

Cosmopolis Consumer( YO)

6.6 22.4 28.2 20.3 11.2 11.3 7159

Demand( %) 4.7 7.9

20.9 22.7 17.0 26.8 15.08 GWh

Source: Electrobras, CPFL

vation Programme (PROCEL) has also invested heav- ily in awareness campaigns. While it is important to inform households about the importance of energy conservation, one may ask, have we placed too much emphasis on this type of campaign? To answer that question, an experiment was conducted of sample households in the Sao Paulo, Brazil area.

After

Clothes ironing

Clothes washing

Television

The esperiment

The experiment was conducted in a region served by the Sao Paulo Light and Power Company (CPFL), one of the three public utilities of the state of Sao Paulo. The area studied was a town, Cosmopolis. of approximately 7 000 residential customers and a total population of 29 000. The town is located about 120 km north of the city of Sao Paulo. Total annual resi- dential electrical consumption in Cosmopolis is I5 GWh (30% of the town’s total consumption), and it is served by one substation that shows a typical evening peak, from 7-9 pm. Two samples of 315 customers each, with consumption above 5 1 kWh/month were selected, and stratified into five categories (classes) with similar monthly consumption levels (see Tab!e I).

Prior to the start-up of an energy conservation campaign, the first sample was interviewed in order to characterize the existing energy consumption behav- iour for each end-use of each of the five consumption classes (a total of 10 end-uses were investigated). For two months after our survey an awareness campaign was conducted by the utility following their tradition- al approach, ie distribution of leaflets, a conservation contest, information mailed directly to households, etc. As part of the campaign, a public ‘energy fair’ was held where the population could see videos, and be assisted by the utility’s technical staff. After this two- month period the second sample was interviewed. The whole experiment lasted a total of four months.

The main characteristics of the population surveyed represented a typical picture of Brazil in terms of electricity consumption, equipment ownership and load curve.

I I I I 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Figure 1. Households declaring knowledgc of morc cfficicnt ways of using appliances by main end-uscs (in %), bcforc and after Conservation campaign.

Tlie resirlls

The analysis of the first sample survey, prior to the campaign, showed that the population were already quite knowledgeable about the most energy-efficient ways to operate their appliances. Between 80-90% of the households interviewed declared they followed an ‘efficient consuming behaviour’, ie they knew the typi- cal conservation measures for the six main end-uses, even before any conservation campaign was carried out by the utility. The same questionnaire used in the second survey showed very similar results (Figure I ) .

In both surveys, households declared that their main targets for energy conservation efforts were water heating, lighting, ironing and television. Prior to the campaign nearly 50% of the households sur- veyed in all consumption classes saw some potential for energy conservation in their homes. After the campaign, similar results were obtained, except for households consuming 5 1-100 kWh/month. Nearly 70% of the consumers in that class did not believe that much potential for conservation existed. This may be the result of the information acquired during the campaign, which showed that there was little scope for changes in a consumer group which was already a t the lower limit of consumption standards. House- holds in the higher consumer categories declared they knew of the possibilities for conservation, but they were not sufficiently motivated to change their habits (Figure 2).

106 NATURAL RESOURCES FORUM May 1993

Residentid conservution cunipoigtw G. DP Mcirtino Junnuzzi c t al

51-100 101-150 151-200 201-250 Above250

kWtdmonth

Figurc 2. Houscholds dcclaring a subjcctive potential for clcctricity conscrvation in their homcs before and after t h campaign ( i n ‘YO) by consumption class.

100 0 Concern with conservation + Low expenditure A Reasonable expenditure 0 High expenditure

80

- 60 2! t C

40

20

0 n 151-200

1

Consumption class (kWh/month)

Figurc 3. Pcrccntagc of households concerncd with cncrgy conscrvii~ion and considering their electricity bills to be rc;ison;i blc.

Tahlr 2. Electricity prices by consumption level (US$/kWh) prior and aftrr the conservation campaign.

~~ ~~

Consumption level August 1990 .January 1991 (k\Vh/month) 0 30 0.035 0.038 31 100 0.056 0.047 I01 200 0.06 I 0.054 20 I ~ 300 0.107 0.086 Ahovc 300 0.1 17 0.086

Households have a progressive electricity tariff with respect to their consumption levels, as shown in Table 2. As can be seen from Figure 3, energy bills were considered reasonable by 60% or more of households whose electricity consumption was below 200 kWh/ month. Catcgorics above this level showed greater concern for conservation. and had a slightly higher pcrccntagc of consumers declaring that their energy bills wcre high. However. no difference was noticed in

12 I 1

I - Nova Odessa I ... 10 Cosmopok - ........

1-411 990 5 4 1 990 9-12/1990 1411 991 Period

Figure 4. Rcsidential clcctricity consumption in Cosmopolis and three neighbouring towns during January 1990-April 1991 (% changes).

their declared consumption behaviour before and after the campaign. It appears that electricity prices are still considered low by most consumers, and there- fore the low cost of electricity does not demand a more aggressive conservation effort on their part.

Aggregute nieusurrments The residential electricity consumption of three other towns with similar socio-economic characteristics, climate and energy demand patterns to that of Cos- mopolis were also monitored. Those towns were not subjected to any conservation campaign during the period studied. The results can be seen in Figure 4, and they confirm the negligible effect of the conser- vation campaign at the aggregate level in Cosmopolis [ I ] .

Discussion and conclusions The surveys conducted tried to measure the presence of knowledge about ‘more efficient ways’ to operate domestic appliances, but i t was not the surveys’ intention to measure if the respondents actually behaved that way. A high proportion of the house- holds surveyed still estimate that there is a large potential for conservation in their homes, and this is an indication that they might not be acting in accord- ance with their knowledge.

In Brazil, as is certainly the case in many other developing countries, residential electricity consump- tion is concentrated in a few end-uses [3] and there is little to be done with rcspect to changing the way the customer operates his/her appliances. Most of the work in conservation should therefore, in our vicw, be directed to improving the efficiency of the equipment itself, and ensuring good marketing and financial backing in order to have more energy- ellicicnt equip-

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R e ~ i t l e t ~ i i ~ i l cwisetwrtioti ccittipoigtis: G. De Mcrrtiiio Jmt iuzz i ct al

ment reach the homes of the majority of the popula- A positive outcome of these surveys for the CPFL is tion. that the utility has decided to invest in a different type

Awareness campaigns are attractive to utilities, and of conservation programme, namely a fluorescent they have a long tradition with that type of pro- lighting diffusion programme to residential con- gramme. However, those programmes have very sumers. seldom been evaluated in Brazil. During the survey it was found, for example, that the penetration of fluor- escent lighting is low, only 16%. This figure is lower References than that found in India, and it is a clear indication that conservation programmes of the information type have not helped to introduce more efficient resi- dential equipment in Brazil.

undertaken initiatives to promote the improvement of the technical efficiency of certain appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners and incandescent lamps. Those initiatives include appliance labelling and protocols signed with appliance manufacturers.

1.

It is also worth mentioning that PROCEL has 2.

3.

Marccllo M. Campos, Jose K. Fugiwara, Gilberto Dc M . Jannuzzi and Vanicc F. Santos, 'Expcricncia com campanha de conscrvacao dc cnergia elctrica', X I Nritiotirrl Se~niticir of Elecirici i j i Disirihitiioti, Blunicnau. Brazil, 13-18 Septembcr 1992. Gilberto De M . Jannuzzi, 'Rcsidcntial cncrgy dcmand by inconic classes: issues for thc cnergy scctor'. Energy Policy, Vol 17, No 3, June 1989, pp 254263 . Gilberto De M . Jannuzzi and Lec Schippcr, 'The struct- ure of electricity consumption in the Brazilian housc- hold sector', Etiergy Policy, Vol 19, No I I , November 199 I , pp 879-89 I .

NATURAL RESOURCES FORUM May 1993