Comparative Study of Residential Household Energy Consumption in Ekiti State-Nigeria

Abstract

Aims: The paper compares the residential household energy consumption pattern between the densely and sparsely populated dwellers on the basis of income level classification with a view to ensuring functional distribution of energy. This study identified, determined and evaluated the various households’ energy choices, quantities and costs of domestic energy consumption and provided a database for documentation. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, between December 2014 and March 2015. Methodology: Primary data were collected through a well structured questionnaires administered on households. Direct and personal observations were used to corroborate same information obtained from the questionnaires used to present more accurate information in the paper. Data obtained were analyzed using both independent and paired t-tests conducted at 5 and 10% levels of significance in the annual energy consumption between the low and high income earners in the visited areas respectively. Results: The result revealed that, the densely populated area remains the larger consumer of energy content of 827,411.20 MJ (63%) against the sparsely populated areas with 486,267.60 MJ (37%), while on the basis of households’ income level; the energy consumed by the low income earners (790,719.30 MJ) is significantly higher than the high income earners (522,959.49 MJ). Conclusion: The study established that, fuel wood was the poor man’s energy source (6.5%) as well as charcoal (11.2%) majorly used in sparsely populated areas with high demand. Kerosene consumption (29.6%) was positively and significantly influenced by income and population in both locations while, LPG (44.9%) and electricity (7.8%) were used mainly in the densely populated areas. However, the results implied that, there was a positive link between income and choice of energy consumption by households that showed the low income earners consumed more energy than the high income earners due to their cooking frequency and unit energy purchase index.