LITERATURE REVIEW

The review of literatures reveal that the household sector is one of the largest users of energy with about 30% of final energy consumption (excluding energy used for transport) [32]. The buildings sector accounted for more than one-fifth of total global consumption of delivered energy [33]. Energy use in the domestic sector accounts for energy for heating, cooling, lighting and many other household demands excluding transportation. Domestic energy consumption is influenced by various factors including the region, location, end-use efficiency of equipment [34, 35, 36, 37], lifestyle [38, 39, 40], physical characteristics of a house and socio-economic aspects of the family [41, 42, 43] and regional energy policies [33, 44, 45, 46, 47]. Role of these factors is widely acknowledged across the globe even in similar structural households [48, 49, 50, 51, 52].  It is estimated that by 2040 the global residential energy demand would increase by 57% [33]. Financial stability and growth major driving force in energy consumption [53, 54, 55]. It is projected that the energy consumption would grow by one-third to 2040 with higher GHG emissions, primarily based on practices in Asian and African countries [56, 57, 58]. Reduction of 10–30% domestic energy consumption is reported just by changing occupants’ behaviour [59]. An understanding of the empirical links between lifestyles and the associated energy consumption and carbon emissions in order to devise strategies to reduce the energy consumption towards the sustainable lifestyles [60, 61]. This helps to mitigate GHG emissions and the resultant warming of the Earth’s biosphere [62, 63].  Study based on the analysis of temporal data of 1971 to 2011 indicates energy consumption is positively influenced by proportion of urban population growth that uses the most available energy. India has seen unprecedented unplanned urbanisation associated with dispersed growth or urban sprawl. Karnataka is one of the major states in India with higher energy consumption due to increase in urban population [64, 65]. The annual electricity   consumption of 6.20 billion kWh in the domestic sector, which accounts to 16.5% of the total electricity in the State [66], necessitating a study to understand the emissions in the domestic sector.

The analysis of domestic energy use and energy behaviour considering demographic variables indicates limited awareness of energy saving from the adoption of energy efficient devices [67]; this is contrary to the claim of awareness of environmental issues. Household survey in different wards and zones of Lucknow city covering various income groups, reveal of enhanced energy (electricity and LPG) consumption in higher income families [68] and similar results were reported from the survey of French households [69]. GHG emissions due to energy consumption have been quantified for Tianjin city, China [70] using methods of IPCC (2006). Variations in CO2 emissions across different income level households were assessed in Chinese cities [71] and the results indicate income and emission linkages similar to a study in Irish households [72], Haryana, India [73]. Carbon footprint assessment of 12 metropolitan areas of Beijing, Jakarta, London, Los Angeles, Manila, Mexico City, New Delhi, New York, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, and Tokyo considering emissions from vehicles, building energy use, industry, agriculture and waste sectors reveal of lowest per capita carbon footprints in cities with low per capita income [74, 75].

Investigations of strategies towards carbon footprint reduction in the households and communities for 12 income brackets in 28 cities of United States of America reveal of intra and inter variations in carbon footprint based on demography [76, 77]. The analyses of the energy consumption and driving factors (climate, geographical, architectural, economic and social) was carried out in urban households through the questionnaire survey in three districts revealed that electricity consumptions was almost twice in summer than in spring and autumn months. The CO2 emissions per capita for household was 1.97 t in 2010, of which CO2 emissions from electricity consumption comprised 1.15 t (58%) and per capita CO2 emissions from natural gas consumption was 0.05 t (3%) and petrol consumption for transport was 0.77 t (39%) [78]. The households’ electricity consumption survey in Bandung and Yogyakarta through the stratified random sampling of households reveal of statistically significant relationship between the monthly electricity bill and driving factors (income, family size, education level, daily activity, floor area and home appliances) in Bandung [79]. Similar studies in Bangladesh [80],  Ouedraogo [81],  Zimbabwe  [82], Mozambique [83] and federal states of India [84, 85, 86, 15] also confirm that domestic energy consumption depends on factors such as economic condition, household density and quality of life in human settlements. Urban heat island (UHI) and its consequences on household energy consumption study revealed of an increase in mean temperature  by 1.97°C during the past three decades [87]  and positive correlation between UHI and level of energy consumption, which depended on the income and the number of air conditioner units, floor area of house, etc. Analyses of household energy consumption and expenditure in India based on NSS survey: national sample survey show 30% of monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) is towards energy for fuel and light [88]. Lighting contributes 30% of total domestic electricity use followed by various applications such as refrigerators, cooling and heating etc. and higher consumption is reported in nuclear families with income elasticity [89. 90, 91] and found the threshold at which energy consumption increases with income [91]. All these studies emphasize the increasing contribution of GHG emissions by domestic energy consumption in urbanizing landscapes (towns and cities in India).