Heterogeneous Energy Consumptions in Household Typologies of Ecuador´s Residential Sector

Abstract

There is a growing interest in reducing energy consumption in the economic sectors, where the residential sector is a substantial consumer of energy in societies and therefore, a focus of attention for efficiency and renewable energy generation policies. In Ecuador, residential consumption represents 1/4 of the total electricity demanded by the socioeconomic system. Household composition has changed due to demographic dynamics, socioeconomic improvements and social justice efforts, which impacts electricity consumption. The aim of this study is to analyze the dynamics of energy consumption in Ecuador´s residential sector based on the construction of household typologies under the hierarchy of demographic, geographic, economic and technical variables using a top-down and bottom-up methodology and the application of MuSIASEM for which statistical information from National Surveys and Censuses was used, which allowed the construction of household typologies and their consumption pattern. The results show heterogeneous electricity consumptions in the 4.5 million households in 2017 hierarchically divided into 240 typologies. The pattern varies from the lowest consumption households with 50 KWh/month to the highest consumption of 350 KWh/month. For example, in the urban area the highest rate is concentrated in households made up of more than 8 people with rates between 150 to 180 KWh/month, while in the rural area the values range from 90 to 120 KWh/month but differ by geographic location and male or female headship. Likewise, the data allowed scaling to aggregate levels where it is shown that, of the total annual electricity consumption of 6,428 GWh, 54% of the consumption was concentrated in the coastal region, which concentrates 51% of the total households in the residential sector of Ecuador.

Keywords

• musiasem
• energy
• residential sector
• electricity consumption
• hierarchical system