A bottom-up electricity demand model for the residential sector in Querétaro, Mexico

There is a growing interest in reducing energy consumption and its associated greenhouse gas emissions from every sector of the economy. The residential sector is a substantial consumer of energy in every country and understanding which factors affect the energy consumption in this sector is crucial for policy makers, investors, utilities, and other stakeholders. This study contributes to a better understanding of these factors through a case study in Queretaro, Mexico. Particularly, this study sheds light on two different methods for collecting detailed information on the end uses of energy in homes, and for assessing the relationship between energy consumption and demographic and socioeconomic indicators. The data used for this study were collected through face-to-face surveys in 32 households and by tracking real-time electricity consumption in a subset of these households. Finally, a bottom-up model was used to estimate the electricity demand of the households surveyed, with the results suggesting a correlation with income, number of lightbulbs, dwelling size, and the number of days the household was occupied. The results of the study motivated the authors to recommend the extension and replication of this study, to assess the role of private transportation in energy consumption, and to improve the use of technology for the collection and analysis of data.