Behaviour of Ibadan City Households Towards Energy Conservation: A Discriminant Analytical Approach

Energy consumption of household sector constitutes major share in the total energy demand of most developing countries. However, much of the current debate on global warming and energy reduction seems to focus more on the industrial and transport sectors. Using discriminant analytical approach, the authors investigated the influence of psychological variables vis-a-vis attitude and perceived behavioural control (PBC) on energy conservation behaviour of Ibadan city residents, Nigeria. Through a household survey, 822 respondents were sampled across the residential neighbourhoods of the city. The study builds a model that contains variables with the most predictive power in discriminating respondents based on their socio-demographic groups. Results indicate that two variables significantly separate the income-groups based on attitudinal readiness to engage in energy conservation, while three variables separate the gender and age groups. In addition, results show that low income group, elderly and females are more willing to adopt energy saving measures.