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The purpose of this study was to determine whether, and how, electricity consumption by students in university residence halls were impacted through three intervention strategies.

The current investigation uses a quasi-experimental design by exposing freshman students in four matched residence halls and the use of three different interventions designed to encourage energy conservation, specifically electricity conservation. A control residence hall received no intervention. One residence hall had an energy dashboard prominently displayed. Another received various communications and programming designed to raise awareness of the need for energy conservation. A fourth residence hall had an energy dashboard and received programming. Electricity consumption among the residence halls was compared using multivariate analysis.

Students in all residence halls receiving interventions demonstrated significantly lower electricity consumption compared to the control residence hall. Across two years with different student populations, results were consistent: the residence hall receiving only the communications and programming, but not the dashboard, had the lowest electricity use. The residence hall with only the dashboard also demonstrated a significant but smaller decline in electricity use. Curiously, the residence hall wherein both interventions were used demonstrated the smallest decline in electricity use.

While total costs for the communications and programming are difficult to accurately assess, the results suggest that this approach is cost-effective when compared to the avoided cost of electricity and is superior in terms of electricity cost savings to both the dashboards and to the combined intervention. Results also suggest that any intervention is likely to induce a large enough electricity reduction to be cost-effective and there may be non-economic benefits as well.

This study takes advantage of the availability of four “matched” residence halls to approximate the rigor of a controlled quasi-experimental design to compare different strategies for inducing electricity consumption among freshman residents.

This study aims to investigate the impact of service quality, as measured by the SERVQUAL model with extended variables of safety awareness and energy conservation, on consumer satisfaction. It also explores the mediating effect of energy conservation and the moderating effect of consumer residence of electricity on this relationship.

The study uses a quantitative research approach, with data collected from 1,004 respondents through a questionnaire from the household consumers of UGVCL. The survey measures service quality using the SERVQUAL model with the additional variables of safety awareness and energy conservation. The data is analyzed using structural equation modeling, mediation and moderation to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results show that service quality, safety awareness and energy conservation all have a positive impact on consumer satisfaction expect responsiveness. Energy conservation also mediates the relationship between service quality and satisfaction, indicating that when consumers perceive higher service quality, they are more likely to conserve energy and thereby increase their satisfaction. Additionally, the moderating effect of consumer residence of electricity shows that the impact of service quality and safety awareness on satisfaction is stronger for consumers living in areas with higher electricity rates.

The paper lies in its investigation of the impact of service quality on consumer satisfaction using the SERVQUAL model, with the inclusion of two additional variables, safety awareness and energy conservation. Furthermore, this study examines the mediating effect of energy conservation and the moderating effect of consumer residence of electricity on the relationship between service quality and consumer satisfaction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to incorporate these variables in examining the relationship between service quality and consumer satisfaction in the context of energy services. Therefore, this study offers a novel contribution to the existing literature on service quality and consumer satisfaction.

In response to increasing energy demand and financial constraints to invest in green infrastructure, behaviour change energy-saving interventions are increasingly being considered as a tool for encouraging pro-environmental behaviour in campus residences. This paper aims to report on a pilot programme aimed at reducing energy consumption via behaviour change interventions, variably applied in residences at Rhodes University, South Africa.

Data were collected via structured questionnaires, energy consumption records and post-intervention programme focus group discussions.

Participant residences that received a mix of different interventions in the forms of pamphlets, face-to-face discussions, incentives and feedback recorded more energy reductions of up to 9 per cent than residences that received a single or no intervention. In post-experiment discussions, students cited personal, institutional and structural barriers to pro-environmental energy-use behaviour.

Overall, the results of this study suggest that information provision of energy-saving tips combined with regular feedback and incentives can result in energy-use reductions in university residences, which may yield environmental and economic benefits for universities, but addressing barriers to pro-environmental behaviour might maximise the results.

Given the lack of literature on energy conservation in the global South universities, this study provides the basis for discussing the potential for using behavioural interventions in universities for stirring pathways towards sustainability.

This paper aims to report on a study promoting energy conservation on Virginia Tech's campus. It explores whether the behavior of students living in university residence halls would change when various electricity conservation strategies are introduced.

Intervention strategies, including educational media, information, and voluntary resource‐conservation activities, were applied at varying levels of intensity across five study groups over two semesters in 2009. Additional questions explore whether one particular strategy would produce higher consumption reductions, and whether combining strategies would produce more consumption reductions than individual techniques.

The findings revealed that on a campus where environmentally sustainability is foremost in the minds of students and administration, asking students to take action to reduce their consumption resulted in positive consumption reductions, even in the control group. Additive strategies did not produce higher reductions.

Reducing natural resource consumption in the USA is essential to promote worldwide sustainability. This study shows that, even when people see no financial incentive to reduce consumption, consumption reductions can be achieved.

Numerous studies have been completed since the 1970s in households across the world to promote environmentally relevant behavior (ERB). Sustainability action plans are being implemented on university campuses, but literature on promoting ERB in students residing on university campuses is sparse. This study provides information and a format for colleges/universities worldwide to promote ERB on their campuses.

Understanding electricity use behaviour is considered one of the strategies to achieve sustained electricity management in buildings. The lack of understanding of occupants’ electricity use behaviour has been found to cause various environmental and ecological issues. This paper aims to investigate the factors influencing occupants’ inefficient use of electricity in buildings becomes a vital area of study to achieve maximum benefit in the area of electricity management.

The study adopted a quantitative survey and questionnaire as instruments for gathering relevant information from end-users in the study area, and the data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The major factors influencing the electricity use behaviour of students in the study area were attributed to their level of awareness, personal beliefs and attitude towards electricity, managerial influences and economic factors.

The threats to the environment and ecology necessitate immediate attention to the elements that impact students’ electricity use habits. This research explains the key elements that might impact students’ electricity consumption habits in buildings. Understanding these key characteristics will provide policymakers with vital knowledge of its prevalence.

In residential buildings, personal choices influence electricity and water consumption. Prior studies indicate that information feedback can stimulate resource conservation. College dormitories provide an excellent venue for controlled study of the effects of feedback. The goal of this study is to assess how different resolutions of socio‐technical feedback, combined with incentives, encourage students to conserve resources.

An automated data monitoring system was developed that provided dormitory residents with real‐time web‐based feedback on energy and water use in two “high resolution” dormitories. In contrast, utility meters were manually read for 20 “low‐resolution” dormitories, and data were provided to residents once per week. For both groups, resource use was monitored during a baseline period and during a two week “dorm energy competition” during which feedback, education and conservation incentives were provided.

Overall, the introduction of feedback, education and incentives resulted in a 32 percent reduction in electricity use (amounting to savings of 68,300 kWh, $5,107 and 148,000 lbs of CO₋₂) but only a 3 percent reduction in water use. Dormitories that received high resolution feedback were more effective at conservation, reducing their electricity consumption by 55 percent compared to 31 percent for low resolution dormitories. In a post‐competition survey, students reported that they would continue conservation practices developed during the competition and that they would view web‐based real‐time data even in the absence of competition.

The results of this research provide evidence that real‐time resource feedback systems, when combined with education and an incentive, interest, motivate and empower college students to reduce resource use in dormitories.

This is the first study to report on the effects of providing college students with real‐time feedback on resource use. The authors of this study are currently engaged in further research to determine: whether reductions in consumption can be sustained over time with and without incentives; the degree to which feedback affect attitude; and the degree to which findings are transferable to apartments and other residential settings.

This paper aims to propose a comprehensive methodology for setting up rural electrifications for indigenous villages with minimum budgets and the lowest possible cost of electricity (COE). The electricity accessibility of rural area in Malaysia is not fully covered and the cost of extending the grid to these areas can be high as RM 2.7m per km. Lack of vigorous policies and economic attraction of the rural areas are also the main barriers to rural electrification. Electricity is an essential element of economic activities and the lack of electricity exacerbates poverty and contributes to its perpetuation. Therefore, a hybrid standalone power system can be an alternative solution for the rural electrification. A hybrid standalone power system is studied to investigate the potential of the implementation and the budget required.

A site survey has been carried out in a village in Peninsular Malaysia, namely, Kampung Ulu Lawin Selatan. A standalone hybrid system is modeled in HOMER Pro software and the data collected from the selected site are used to obtain the system configuration with the lowest COE. The load following and cycle charging energy dispatch methods are compared to identify the optimal system configuration that yields the lowest COE. The diesel generator-only system is chosen as a benchmark for comparisons.

The results show that the hybrid system constituted from the diesel generator, photovoltaic (PV), micro-hydro and energy storage using the load following energy dispatch method yields the lowest COE of RM 0.519 per kWh. The COE of the hybrid system is 378 per cent lower than that of the diesel generator-only system. The lead-acid energy storage system (ESS) is able to reduce 40 per cent of COE as compared to the system without ESS.

The results indicate that the COE of the diesel-micro hydro-PV-ESS system with load following dispatch strategy is RM 0.519 per kWh, and this value is 35 per cent higher than the average electricity price in Malaysia. However, it is important to note that the costs of extending the grid to the rural area are not taken into account. If this cost is considered into the electricity price, then the standalone hybrid power system proposed by this study is still a competitive alternative for rural electrification.

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have been demonstrated to be an effective (although not universally successful) tool for the delivery of infrastructure and infrastructure-based services. For PPPs to achieve optimum results, the service outputs should be inclusive, i.e., they should be available to as wide a spectrum of society as possible, regardless of income level, gender or ethnic background. In developing countries, many PPPs are reliant upon user fees to create the revenue streams that enable private parties to provide such basic services as power, water, wastewater and transport. When these user fees act as barriers to service access (i.e., they are unaffordable to potential recipients of the service), what are the policy and contractual options which may make the services more universally accessible? This chapter examines three PPP projects from different sectors which have utilized creative mechanisms to enhance affordability and expand the user base: the Pamir Power project in eastern Tajikistan; the urban water PPP in Dakar, Senegal and the East Coast Toll Road in Tamil Nadu, India. Based upon these examples, the chapter will draw conclusions on how this experience can be more broadly applied and made a part of the PPP planning process in developing countries to achieve more affordable and sustainable growth.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive list of student‐led, campus‐based climate change initiatives, and offers details on many specific cases. The paper also documents the roles students have played and considers the larger youth engagement implications. Many of these initiatives can be replicated elsewhere, thereby providing a starting point for students wanting to begin an initiative or providing ideas for other campus stakeholders wanting to engage students in initiatives.

Campus reports were collected by the Sierra Youth Coalition from 65 Canadian Universities and Colleges. This qualitative information was coded for student‐led climate‐related initiatives, and for the roles students played in those initiatives. The patterns were identified and clustered, and are presented in this paper.

Students were found to be successfully leading eight different types of campus climate change‐related initiatives, both with the support of other campus stakeholders and without this support. Students were also found to be able to successfully take on a variety of types of leadership roles in these initiatives. Youth engagement ranged from socialization to influence to power, depending on the type of initiative.

A limitation of this research is that only 65 of the approximately 227 colleges and universities in Canada participated. Also, it is possible that some schools may not have reported all student‐led initiatives, or all the student roles. In addition, the data were limited to the 2007/2008 academic year, so is limited to the initiatives which occurred in that year.

This paper presents different types of student‐led climate change initiatives, the roles students have played in these initiatives, and the implications for youth engagement in creating climate change solutions. It contributes to the climate change, the campus sustainability, and the social movements literatures.

The purpose of this paper is to forecast the future trend of Ghana’s total energy consumption (GTEC) using two grey models, which are GM(1,1) and the grey Verhulst model.

The paper employs the use of Even model GM(1,1) and the grey Verhulst model to forecast GTEC for the next five years. Since various models were used, the margin for error is minimal, hence resulting in a better choice for forecasting the future. The forecast reveals that the GTEC for the next five years will increase rapidly.

The results reveal that the models can be used accurately to predict the total energy consumption smoothly. This will aid the government of Ghana to take necessary measures such as transforming the economic development pattern and enhancing the energy utilization efficiency since future patterns of energy consumed can be predicted.

This research is meaningful to the government and all stakeholders in Ghana to help develop and appreciate the energy sector and its economic impact. This research is going to help government put in measures for efficient utilization of energy since results reveal an increase in energy consumption.

Research results could be used for development of the energy sector through managerial and economic decision making.

Ghana is a developing country and has great prospects in terms of boosting or resourcing its energy sector to meet future demands. The successfully explored models could aid the government of Ghana to formulate policies in the energy sector and generate future consumption plans.