Abstract:
The challenge of reducing carbon emissions for the purpose of climate
change mitigation requires both supply-side and demand-side energy
efficiency measures and conservation. On the demand side, buildings
worldwide account for about 30-40% of the total energy demand,
thereby forming the largest sectoral consumer of electricity. Hence,
the building sector offers a great opportunity for energy conservation
and energy efficiency drives if certain behavioural patterns were to
change. An important element of the building, which often influences
energy consumption, is the window. Window types used in Ghana
have evolved over time from traditional wooden to modern louvre
blades and glazed (sliding-glass) windows. This paper therefore seeks
to investigate the economic and energy efficiency dimensions of the
shift from traditional to new window designs in Ghana as well as the
sociological underpinnings of this shift. Evidence abounds from the
quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data gathered for the 2014
Energy Surveys in the Ga East and Awutu Senya East Municipalities in
Ghana that most people use new window designs mainly due to
comfort and aesthetic reasons. The analyses reveal that, while more
wooden and louvre blade windows users depend mostly on natural
ventilation systems and to a little extent fans, glazed window users
depend mostly on fans and air conditioners. In consequence, glazed
windows users spend more on electricity compared to users of other
windows types. These findings have implications regarding the
current architectural designs in Ghana taking into account the need
for efficient energy consumption and climate change mitigation