TECHNOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL BASIS FOR A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEM IN ENHANCING THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY: CASE STUDY IN KILIFI COUNTY

Abstract

Low energy costs have not induced industry and households to adopt energy efficiency measures and the growing GHG  emissions  are  a  source  of  growing  concern  and  promoting  energy  efficiency  standards.  Demand-side management  can  be  used  to  limit  residential  demand  growth  or  mitigate  the  impacts  through  the  provision  of incentives for industry and commerce to move load out of the peak periods. Benefits of this include avoiding high price  increases  through  the  deferment  or  avoidance  of  certain  generation  capacity  construction.  This  paper explores how electrification connection to poor households (where Biomas, wood, paraffin and liquid petroleum gas  were  the  primary  household  energy  sources),  promotes  the  use  of  clean,  versatile  and  convenient  form  of energy that connects them to the modern economy. This can raise the proportion of energy sales, leading to a rise in peak demand, with the residential sector contributing more than 30% because of the peaky nature of the load (Africa, 2003). The researcher used stratified sampling technique to select the  male and female respondents  for this  study.  The  researcher  established  that  Beta  coefficients  are  highest  for  energy  characteristics  clean  (beta  = 0.220)  and  no  smoke  (beta  =  0.101).  To  determine  the  relative  importance  of  the  significant  predictors,  the researcher looked at the standardized than the unstandardized coefficients. Therefore people prefer clean energy and therefore it contributes more to the model because it has a larger absolute standardized coefficient (beta = 0.175). The results of multiple coefficients indicate that all the five variables do not have equal explanatory power of the dependent variable. However, the choice of energy influenced mostly by the variance in cost according to the un-standardized beta coefficients (beta = 0.106, t = 1.109) which was found to be statistically significant at 5 percent level. The second most important characteristic clean energy means (beta = 0.220, t = 1.186) also found to be statistically significant at 5 percent level. The results indicate that with a positive beta, the two variables must be adjusted positively in order to reduce dependence on other forms of unhealthy energy. The paper provides a useful  insight  into technological  and  social  basis  for  a  sustainable  energy  system  in  enhancing  the potential benefits of energy efficiency. The choice of energy influenced mostly by the variance in cost according to the unstandardized  beta  coefficients  (beta=0.106,  t=1.109)  which  was  found  to  be  statistically  significant  at  5  percent level.  The  second  most  important  characteristic  clean  energy  means  (beta  =  0.220,  t=1.186)  also  found  to  be statistically significant at 5 percent level. Quality of energy can be ensured by seizing the momentum and global spotlight on clean household energy.

Key words:   Electrification,  GHG  emissions,  low  energy,  residential  demand  growth  and  sustainable  energy system