Browsing by Author "Strydom, Adel"

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    Conceptualizing household energy metabolism : a methodological contribution
    (MDPI, 2019) Strydom, Adel; Musango, Josephine Kaviti; Currie, Paul K.
    Urban metabolism assessments enable the quantification of resource flows, which is useful for finding intervention points for sustainability. At a household level, energy metabolism assessments can reveal intervention points to reshape household energy consumption and inform decision-makers about a more sustainable urban energy system. However, a gap in the current urban metabolism research reveals that existing household energy consumption studies focus on outflows in the form of greenhouse gas emissions, and have been mostly undertaken at the city or national level. To address this gap, this study developed a method to assess household energy metabolism focusing on direct energy inflows in the form of carriers, and through-flows in the form of services, to identify intervention points for sustainability. Then, this method was applied to assess the energy metabolism of different households in Cape Town, South Africa, as categorized by income groups. The study argued that the developed method is useful for undertaking bottom–up household energy metabolic assessments in both formal and informal city settings in which more than one energy carrier is used. In cities where only national or city-level data exists, it provides a method for understanding how different households consume different energy carriers differently.
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    Understanding household energy metabolism in the city of Cape Town
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Strydom, Adel; Musango, Josephine Kaviti; Currie, Paul Klugman; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : Urban metabolism assessments enable the quantification of resource flows, which is useful for finding intervention points for sustainability. Globally, household energy consumption accounts for 72% of greenhouse gas emissions; therefore, a household energy metabolism assessment would reveal intervention points to reshape household energy consumption to inform decision-makers about a more sustainable urban energy system. In the Global South, this means providing sufficient access to energy to those still lacking, while reshaping energy consumption in households that are accessing energy in abundance. Current household energy consumption studies tend to limit the focus of study to outflows in the form of greenhouse gas emissions and are mostly undertaken at city or national level. Consequently, this study assessed the energy metabolism of different households in Cape Town, thereby assisting in improving urban metabolism assessment methods. A method was developed to assess household energy metabolism focusing on energy inflows in the form of carriers, and through-flows in the form of services, to identify intervention points for sustainability. This method was subsequently applied to the city of Cape Town. Surveys were used to collect data, and a final sample size was 360 households representing 56 suburbs. Households were categorised into four groups based on their average income: low-income, low-middle-income, highmiddle- income and high income. According to the services accessed, each income group was placed on an energy ladder, which indicates the drivers for energy access to be either satisfying subsistence needs or to effect comfort, convenience and cleanliness. Results show that many low-income households in Cape Town fully access the service of entertainment, which falls under comfort, convenience and cleanliness, but severely lack access to water heating, which is in the subsistence category. To make the energy system more sustainable, decision-makers’ focus regarding low-income households could be shifting to a more efficient energy carrier, as the paraffin mainly used in these households is inefficient, unsafe and expensive. Regarding middle and high-income households, the focus could be toward changing energy behaviour and reshaping consumption patterns.