The socio-economic, dwelling and appliance related factors affecting electricity consumption in domestic buildings

This paper aims to investigate the socio-economic, dwelling and appliance related factors that have significant or non-significant effects on domestic electricity consumption. To achieve this aim, a comprehensive literature review of international research investigating these factors was undertaken. Although papers examining the factors affecting electricity demand are numerous, to the authors’ knowledge, a comprehensive analysis taking stock of all previous findings has not previously been undertaken. The review establishes that no less than 62 factors potentially have an effect on domestic electricity use. This includes 13 socio-economic factors, 12 dwelling factors and 37 appliance factors. Of the 62 factors, four of the socio-economic factors, seven of the dwelling factors, and nine of the appliance related factors were found to unambiguously have a significant positive effect on electricity use. This paper contributes to a better understanding of those factors that certainly affect electricity consumption and those for which effects are unclear and require further research. Understanding the effects of factors can support both the implementation of effective energy policy and aid prediction of future electricity consumption in the domestic sector. & 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).