Implications of household consumption on energy requirements and CO2 emissions in Thailand : micro and macro perspectives | |
| Author | Onicha Meangbua |
| Call Number | AIT Diss no.ET-20-01 |
| Subject(s) | Households--Energy consumption--Thailand Carbon dioxide mitigation--Thailand |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Energy, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. ET-20-01 |
| Abstract | Household consumption and its impact on energy and CO2 emissions are key issues for achieving ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. Technology development and change in consumer behavior are the two main ways to achieve global environmental goals. However, the energy rebound, despite technological development, indirectly increases energy consumption in households when there are inefficient energy policies. Moreover, the consumption of both the energy and non-energy goods and services of households affect energy and CO2 emissions. Therefore, understanding the impact of household consumption on energy and CO2 emissions is necessary, especially in the developing countries which are rapidly growing and prevailing understanding and studies on these issues are too limited. Thailand is a middle-income developing country, and its energy policies implemented in the household sector are mainly voluntary programs with the lifestyle and consumption of nonenergy goods and services largely unaddressed. For deep decarbonization, the Thai government must address lifestyle and household consumption in addition to traditional energy efficiency and conservation policies, but the understanding of the household consumption pattern and its implication to energy and CO2 emission are nascent. In this context, the overall objective of this study is to clarify the role of household consumption in energy use and related CO2 emissions in Thailand. In order to present an indepth insight into the impact of household consumption on energy and related CO2 emissions in Thailand, this study analyzes it from both micro (household consumption and consumption categories), and macro (economy-wide) views with three specific objectives in mind. The first objective aims to estimate energy requirements and related CO2 emissions of Thai households directly and indirectly over time in Thailand based on the consumption characteristic of the households. The second objective aims to analyze the socio-economic and demographic factors to understand how they impact direct and indirect energy requirements and related CO2 emissions of the households. The third objective investigates the role of household consumption in economy-wide final demand and provides insights on their implications on energy requirements and related CO2 emissions with an analysis of relevant driving factors. In summary, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the role of household consumption. First, estimation of the direct and indirect energy requirements and related CO2 emissions of households over time in Thailand is based on the household’s consumption expenditurebased model and related data for 1990-2010, where energy intensities are derived from the Input-Output analysis. The results reveal that the total energy requirements of Thai households declined in 1990-1995 and increased since 2000. A massive change has taken place in the structure of direct and indirect requirements. The results show that the change in household consumption patterns, a proxy to lifestyle change, is a strong driver, which would have increased energy requirements and related CO2 emissions of households by two times in 1990-2010 if the energy efficiency of production sectors and economic structure change had not improved. It clearly indicates that consumption and structure are crucial for developing energy policies in Thailand in the coming years. Second, to address consumption-based CO2 emissions of households, an understanding of the underlying driving factors is key. Household survey data, economic input-output tables, and panel data regression analyses for the years 1995-2010 were employed to investigate the effects of socio-economic and demographic factors on energy and CO2 requirements of households in Thailand. The empirical results showed that socio-economic and demographic iv factors influenced the changes in energy requirements and CO2 emissions. Temperature is the most significant factor influencing energy requirements and CO2 emissions (a 1°C increase in temperature resulted in a 200% increase in energy requirements and CO2 emissions). Education is a key driving factor that positively influenced direct energy and CO2 requirements but negatively influenced the indirect energy and CO2 requirements. Our results provide important information to decision-makers on how socio-economic and demographic factors influence consumption-based CO2 emissions of households in Thailand. Since most household-related energy policies in Thailand are voluntary in nature, awareness, education, and behavioral aspects need to be thought more carefully when designing effective policies towards deep decarbonization goals. Third, energy input-output analysis and structural decomposition analysis are employed to identify the economy-wide role of household consumption, as final demand sector, on energy requirements, and related CO2 emissions in Thailand’s households. This attempts to present the role of household consumption and the driving factors influencing energy requirements and related CO2 emissions in households from the macro view in order to confirm the importance of consumption patterns in the bottom-up perspective. The results show that, after 1995, the share of household energy requirements and related CO2 emissions was the second-largest share, following that of the export sector. However, the trend of total household energy requirements and related CO2 emissions has increased over the studied period. The energy requirements in households doubled from 1990 to 2010. This emphasizes that the impact of household consumption on energy and emissions is becoming more and more important in Thailand. From a macro-perspective, the influencing factors on energy requirements and related CO2 emissions were analyzed using structural decomposition analysis. The indicators are energy and emission intensities effect, Leontief effect (technology developments), and final demand effect. The results found that the economic condition reflected by the final demand effect was the strongest factor of changes in energy requirements and related CO2 emissions in Thailand’s households. From 1990 to 2010, the final demand was the main effect (+106%), followed by the Leontief effect (+1.90%) to increase the energy requirements in the household of Thailand. Meanwhile, the energy intensity effect (-7.42%) was the only factor in reducing the energy requirements in Thailand’s households. The final demand also had a significant effect on increasing the CO2 emissions in Thailand’s households. However, the technology development (Leontief effect) and intensities effect were the factors in reducing the CO2 emissions. Even though the Leontief and intensities effects were factors in decreasing CO2 emissions, they could not compensate for the increase of household CO2 emissions by the final demand. Hence, this study provided a comprehensive understanding of consumption and its relationship with energy requirements and related CO2 emissions. The results show that household consumption is a key contributing factor to household energy requirements and related CO2 emissions and that the perspectives of only direct energy consumption are not enough in Thailand for policy-makers. For deep decarbonization, the final demand of the households is the most significant factor to influence the change in energy and emission, and technology development alone will be inadequate. This means consumer behavior change toward consumption is crucial. |
| Year | 2020 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. ET-20-01 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Energy Technology (ET) |
| Chairperson(s) | Dhakal, Shobhakar; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Kumar, Sivanappan;Kuwornu, John K.M.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2020 |