Determination of the energy behaviour in municipalities with fewer than 6000 inhabitants in Badajoz (Spain)

Abstract

Most of the municipalities in Europe have a population of less than 6000 inhabitants and high energy consumption. In order to reduce consumption, it is necessary to know the energy behaviour of a municipality beforehand. The purpose of this article is to analyse the energy and environmental situation of the municipalities of the province of Badajoz (Spain) and formulates energy efficiency and environmental indicators. The method is based in the analysis of 74 energy audits were carried out between 2012 and 2014 in the corresponding municipalities, and the average final energy consumption was studied in terms of four different variables: area of the municipality, number of inhabitants, cost of energy, and annual CO2 emissions. In addition, a statistical analysis based on variance was carried out. The results obtained show that the average annual energy consumption of a municipality of less than 6000 inhabitants is 300 kWh per inhabitant and 1 kWh per m2 of surface area. A great variability was observed in the average cost of energy for each municipality, between 0.11 and 0.25 €/kWh, with an average of 0.17 €/kWh. In addition, by statistical methods it was determined that the energy consumption of a municipality is proportional to the surface area that it occupies and its number of inhabitants, proposing an equation that allows determining the final energy consumption according to both variables. This benchmarking is valid to implement energy saving techniques and to prioritize investments in the renovation of the facilities. There are no precedents of similar research studies with such a large number of municipalities.