IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v45y2018i5p933-952.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Urban form, building characteristics, and residential electricity consumption: A case study in Tainan City

Author

Listed:
  • Yen-Jong Chen
  • Rodney H Matsuoka
  • Tzu-Min Liang

Abstract

Which urban form factor most affects household electricity consumption? This study investigated the relationships between urban density, community layout, and land use factors and household electricity consumption simultaneously, along with building characteristics and demographic indicators. The study site involved 231 communities located in the former provincial area of Tainan City, Taiwan. Due to the area’s subtropical climate, air conditioning accounts for approximately 40% of the total yearly household electricity consumption. Of the urban form factors examined, greater population density was most strongly associated with lower household electricity consumption, followed respectively by greater urban canyon narrowness, or higher height to width ratios, and greater percentages of vacant space and building land use. Notably, both urban canyons and building land use percentages were associated with decreased consumption only after increasing past threshold levels, specifically a 1.5 height to width ratio and 40.7%, respectively. In addition, building characteristics, namely smaller household living areas and greater building age, were most strongly connected with lower household electricity consumption. In contrast, larger household living areas were linked with decreased household electricity consumption/floor area, revealing the importance of lower energy intensities of sizable scales. Of the demographic indicators studied, higher percentages of older adults were associated with lower household electricity consumption. Concerning urban form, the findings suggest that to reduce residential energy usage in a subtropical climate, buildings should be clustered to maximize the inter-building shadows resulting from narrower urban canyons, while simultaneously increasing non-built land use percentages in the adjacent areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Yen-Jong Chen & Rodney H Matsuoka & Tzu-Min Liang, 2018. "Urban form, building characteristics, and residential electricity consumption: A case study in Tainan City," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 45(5), pages 933-952, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:45:y:2018:i:5:p:933-952
    DOI: 10.1177/2399808317690150
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2399808317690150
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2399808317690150?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tso, Geoffrey K.F. & Yau, Kelvin K.W., 2007. "Predicting electricity energy consumption: A comparison of regression analysis, decision tree and neural networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1761-1768.
    2. Zhao, Hai-xiang & Magoulès, Frédéric, 2012. "A review on the prediction of building energy consumption," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 3586-3592.
    3. Kaza, Nikhil, 2010. "Understanding the spectrum of residential energy consumption: A quantile regression approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6574-6585, November.
    4. Chi-Ming Lai & Yao-Hong Wang, 2011. "Energy-Saving Potential of Building Envelope Designs in Residential Houses in Taiwan," Energies, MDPI, vol. 4(11), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Faruqui, Ahmad & Sergici, Sanem & Sharif, Ahmed, 2010. "The impact of informational feedback on energy consumption—A survey of the experimental evidence," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 1598-1608.
    6. Jihoon Min & Zeke Hausfather & Qi Feng Lin, 2010. "A High‐Resolution Statistical Model of Residential Energy End Use Characteristics for the United States," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 14(5), pages 791-807, October.
    7. Yun, Geun Young & Steemers, Koen, 2011. "Behavioural, physical and socio-economic factors in household cooling energy consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 2191-2200, June.
    8. Damian Pitt, 2013. "Evaluating the greenhouse gas reduction benefits of compact housing development," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(4), pages 588-606, May.
    9. Lam, Joseph C., 1996. "An analysis of residential sector energy use in Hong Kong," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1-8.
    10. Druckman, A. & Jackson, T., 2008. "Household energy consumption in the UK: A highly geographically and socio-economically disaggregated model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 3167-3182, August.
    11. Reid Ewing & Fang Rong, 2008. "The impact of urban form on U.S. residential energy use," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 1-30, January.
    12. Tso, Geoffrey K.F & Yau, Kelvin K.W, 2003. "A study of domestic energy usage patterns in Hong Kong," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(15), pages 1671-1682.
    13. Clinton Andrews, 2008. "Greenhouse gas emissions along the rural-urban gradient," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(6), pages 847-870.
    14. Vassileva, Iana & Wallin, Fredrik & Dahlquist, Erik, 2012. "Analytical comparison between electricity consumption and behavioral characteristics of Swedish households in rented apartments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 182-188.
    15. Bartusch, Cajsa & Odlare, Monica & Wallin, Fredrik & Wester, Lars, 2012. "Exploring variance in residential electricity consumption: Household features and building properties," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 637-643.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Guangwu & Zhu, Yuhan & Wiedmann, Thomas & Yao, Lina & Xu, Lixiao & Wang, Yafei, 2019. "Urban-rural disparities of household energy requirements and influence factors in China: Classification tree models," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 1321-1335.
    2. Aleksandra Matuszewska-Janica & Dorota Żebrowska-Suchodolska & Agnieszka Mazur-Dudzińska, 2021. "The Situation of Households on the Energy Market in the European Union: Consumption, Prices, and Renewable Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-21, October.
    3. Estiri, Hossein, 2015. "The indirect role of households in shaping US residential energy demand patterns," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 585-594.
    4. Cansino, José M. & Dugo, Víctor & Gálvez-Ruiz, David & Román-Collado, Rocío, 2023. "What drove electricity consumption in the residential sector during the SARS-CoV-2 confinement? A special focus on university students in southern Spain," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    5. Jones, Rory V. & Fuertes, Alba & Lomas, Kevin J., 2015. "The socio-economic, dwelling and appliance related factors affecting electricity consumption in domestic buildings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 901-917.
    6. Małgorzata Sztorc, 2022. "The Implementation of the European Green Deal Strategy as a Challenge for Energy Management in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-21, April.
    7. Valenzuela, Carlos & Valencia, Alelhie & White, Steve & Jordan, Jeffrey A. & Cano, Stephanie & Keating, Jerome & Nagorski, John & Potter, Lloyd B., 2014. "An analysis of monthly household energy consumption among single-family residences in Texas, 2010," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 263-272.
    8. Salari, Mahmoud & Javid, Roxana J., 2017. "Modeling household energy expenditure in the United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 822-832.
    9. Huang, Wen-Hsiu, 2015. "The determinants of household electricity consumption in Taiwan: Evidence from quantile regression," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 120-133.
    10. Quan, Steven Jige & Li, Chaosu, 2021. "Urban form and building energy use: A systematic review of measures, mechanisms, and methodologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    11. Kontokosta, Constantine E. & Tull, Christopher, 2017. "A data-driven predictive model of city-scale energy use in buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 303-317.
    12. Azar, Elie & Al Ansari, Hamad, 2017. "Framework to investigate energy conservation motivation and actions of building occupants: The case of a green campus in Abu Dhabi, UAE," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 563-573.
    13. Wu, Jianghong & Liu, Chaopeng & Li, Hongqi & Ouyang, Dong & Cheng, Jianhong & Wang, Yuanxia & You, Shaofang, 2017. "Residential air-conditioner usage in China and efficiency standardization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 1036-1046.
    14. Michael Chesser & Jim Hanly & Damien Cassells & Nikolaos Apergis, 2019. "Household Energy Consumption: A Study of Micro Renewable Energy Systems in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 50(2), pages 265-280.
    15. Estiri, Hossein & Zagheni, Emilio, 2018. "Evaluating the Age-Energy Consumption Profile in Residential Buildings," SocArXiv yqkva, Center for Open Science.
    16. Nsangou, Jean Calvin & Kenfack, Joseph & Nzotcha, Urbain & Ngohe Ekam, Paul Salomon & Voufo, Joseph & Tamo, Thomas T., 2022. "Explaining household electricity consumption using quantile regression, decision tree and artificial neural network," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    17. Belaïd, Fateh, 2016. "Understanding the spectrum of domestic energy consumption: Empirical evidence from France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 220-233.
    18. Raihanian Mashhadi, Ardeshir & Behdad, Sara, 2018. "Discriminant effects of consumer electronics use-phase attributes on household energy prediction," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 346-355.
    19. Park, Jongmun & Yun, Sun-Jin, 2022. "Social determinants of residential electricity consumption in Korea: Findings from a spatial panel model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    20. Fujimi, Toshio & Kajitani, Yoshio & Chang, Stephanie E., 2016. "Effective and persistent changes in household energy-saving behaviors: Evidence from post-tsunami Japan," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 93-106.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:45:y:2018:i:5:p:933-952. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.