ELECTRICITY CONSERVATION BEHAVIOR IN GHANA: EVIDENCE FROM RURAL AND URBAN HOUSEHOLDS IN THE ASHANTI REGION

摘要

Energy conservation has emerged as one of the surest ways of ensuring a reliable and sustainable power supply as well as reducing carbon emissions. Both theoretical arguments and empirical investigations show that there are many energy conservation factors that have a variety of effects. The results from empirical studies on energy conservation indicate that conservational factors are country- or regional-specific. This places emphasis on the need to recognize the determinants of energy conservation in each nation or region for effective policy making. The objective of this paper is to identify the determinants of electricity conservation among households in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The rationale is to help offer guidelines for a better and more effective electricity conservation policy geared toward the attainment of the 10-percent electricity savings target set by the government of Ghana.