Abstract

Energy efficiency is being considered as a highly important matter among the majority of countries due to its correlation to environmental protection, energy security, and industrial competitiveness. There are multiple factors contributing to efficient usage of energy, one of them being behavioral patterns. This project aimed at analyzing the effect of behavioral patterns in enhancing energy efficiency through looking at the relationship between level of education, level of income, age, gender, place of residence (urban vs rural) and household energy usage trends. The research was completed through four focus group discussions that were conducted in urban and rural areas in the municipality of Prishtina which involved 24 people as well as through the utilization of a CENR/KEDS survey database conducted with 605 households in 40 villages coming from 17 municipalities of Kosovo. The study findings show that individuals who possess higher levels of education and income are more actively involved in EE solution investments. Additionally, results show that age does not seem to play a role when it comes to energy usage patterns. At the same time, gender impacts the distribution of energy related activities within households where women are more involved in cooking, cleaning, heating, and doing laundry and men are more involved in securing heating materials, paying bills and buying appliances. Finally, place of residence has a significant impact when it comes to household energy usage as urban households tend to be more informed and engage in purchasing activities regarding EE solutions whereas rural households usually engage in habitual activities and have less access to energy efficient appliances.

Publication Date

7-2020

Document Type

Senior Project

Student Type

Undergraduate

Advisor

Venera Demukaj

Advisor/Committee Member

Flamur Breznica

Campus

RIT Kosovo

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