Connecting energy services, carriers and flows: Rethinking household energy metabolism in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract Household metabolism assessments are useful approaches for understanding household energy consumption and identifying intervention points towards sustainability. However, a gap persists in the evidence that associates resource flows to particular groups of people, locations and sectors. This study thus undertook a differentiated household energy metabolism assessment of Cape Town, focusing on energy inflows in the form of energy carriers and throughflows in the form of energy services. This was achieved using household energy surveys and audits across different neighbourhoods in Cape Town. Four different income group profiles were created for total energy consumption, which were further linked with respective energy services and energy carriers. The results show that each income group in Cape Town accesses all 11 services examined, suggesting income is not as strong a limiting factor to achieving services of comfort, cleanliness and convenience. This study suggests that intervention points for improving the sustainability of urban energy systems depend on the profile of the income group. For low- and low-middle-income groups, a shift in energy carrier is suggested to be the first step toward reshaping these energy flows for sustainability. This requires a shift from expensive, dangerous, and inefficient energy carriers to ones that are efficient and safe, with the additional benefit of reducing overall energy consumption. For high-middle and high-income households, sustainability interventions revolve around reducing overall energy consumption, as alternative energy carriers do not play such a prominent role. Water heating and cooking are services which show potential for reduced energy consumption across all income groups.