An Exploratory Study of Energy Consumption and Management in the Home

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association 1980;18(1):67-82.

논문편 - 주생활 및 가정관리편 : 가정에서의 열에너지 관리 현황조사 연구 - 서울 지역을 중심으로 -

윤복자 , 최목화

An Exploratory Study of Energy Consumption and Management in the Home

Lee , Mok Wha Choi

ABSTRACT

The objectives of the study were to determine 1) energy uses for residential requirements, 2) if energy consumption and adoption of energy conservation attitudes and practices vary with independent variables family size, stage of family life cycle, homemaker's level of education, income, heating system, and number of electrical household items, and 3) if there is a correlation between energy conservation attitudes and practices. Questionnaires were given to the randomly selected homemakers I Seoul in the summer (September, 1979) and the winter (February, 1980). Analysis of variance and correlation were used to analyzed the data which consisted of 537 usable responses of 895 returned in the summer and 554 responses of 794 returned in the winter. The results are as follows: 1) The order of consumption rate of the direct energy uses for residential requirements was found to be heating and air conditioning, cooking, refrigeration, T.V., lighting, and miscellaneous. 2) Energy consumption and adoption of energy conservation attitudes and practices were significantly related to family size, homemaker's level of education, and the stage of family life cycle. (1) Families of five members revealed higher scores in attitudes and practices than families less than five or more than six. (2) The higher the homemaker's level of education, the more energy consumption and the higher scores I attitudes and practices were found. (3) Families in the middle stage of family life cycle tend to use more energy than younger or older families, but their scores in attitudes and practices were high. 3) There was a significant correlation between energy conservation attitudes and practices. However, the scores of the conservation practices were not as good as the attitudes. It may be attributed to either a lack of knowledge and/or financial difficulties, or a dissonance between the concept and implementation of energy conservation. 4) Recommendations for the energy-saving and energy-related public policies are: (1) to use such human resources as attitudes, values, feelings of agreement, and cooperation, as well as nonhuman resources for the energy conservation, (2) to develop a educational program and a creative system I order to implement energy conservation programs, and (3) to consider direct as well as indirect energy uses I selecting goods and services.