Evaluation of Home Energy Efficiency Improvements in a Hot Desert Climate in Northwestern Mexico: The Energy Saving vs. Money Saving Conflict

Reducing household energy consumption is one of the most important strategies used to decrease fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gases emissions, and to encourage renewable energy utilization. Most energy conservation strategies in the domestic sector are aimed at preferential loans, i.e., purc...

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Published inEnergies (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 23; p. 7909
Main Authors Valenzuela, Edgar, Campbell, Hector, Montero, Gisela, Coronado, Marcos A., Lambert-Arista, Alejandro A., Perez-Tello, Carlos, Ramos-Sanchez, Víctor H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.12.2021
Subjects
Air conditioning
Alternative energy sources
Arid climates
Cost control
Dwellings
Electric power grids
Electricity
Emissions
Energy conservation
Energy consumption
Energy efficiency
Energy resources
Energy utilization
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases
Household appliances
household energy consumption
Households
Insulation
Photovoltaic cells
Photovoltaics
rebound effect
renewable generation
Renewable resources
Residential energy
Roofing
Thermal insulation
Wind power
Mexico
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Summary:Reducing household energy consumption is one of the most important strategies used to decrease fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gases emissions, and to encourage renewable energy utilization. Most energy conservation strategies in the domestic sector are aimed at preferential loans, i.e., purchasing renewable electricity or to improve the efficiency of home appliances, such as air conditioning and lighting. However, despite the relative economic successes of these technologies, they have not had expected impacts in regard to energy consumption. In this work, the authors analyzed the consumption patterns of two equivalent households—one was adapted with improved thermal insulation and a 1.2 kW photovoltaic system to reduce consumption from the electrical grid. The results show that dwellings where no improvements were made registered lower electric energy consumption, due the fact that users were aware that no strategy had been implemented, and its consumption; hence, electricity payments depended solely on one’s attention over the electronic device operations. On the other hand, energy conservation strategies in households promotes confident and relaxed attitudes toward the use of energy, leading to lower energy billings, but a higher gross energy consumption.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en14237909