An Analysis of Consumption Patterns in Residential Sector of District Heating

지역난방의 주택용 열소비행태 분석

The use of district heating is expanding very rapidly in Korea. High population densities and the relatively cold winters make district heating an economically attractive option. About 8 percent of Korean houses are already using district heating and the government is seeking to aggressively expand this number. It has set a target of 15 percent of the residential heat market to be met by district heating in the year 2001. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the consumption behavior of households using district heating. By pooling time-series and cross-sectional data for 12 apartment complexes in Seoul area, a single demand function is estimated and used to forecast the amounts of heat demanded by the individual households. The results shows that the level of consumption varies among households, depending on the non-economic factors such as the installation of individual metering equipment and the volume of apartment building. When individual metering equipment is installed, the level of annual heat consumption per household declines, on average, about 22.1 Mcal per square meters, which is equivalent to 834 won per square meter in terms of heating expenditures. In case that the apartment building was built in more than 6 stories, annual consumption level reduces additionally about 17.3 Mcal per square meters and, thus, save the expenditures by 649 Won per square meters, compared to the opposite case.