Spatial distribution of electric energy consumption in the city of Londrina – PR
The ICALON project is conducting a study that aims to map out the residential electricity consumption field in Londrina and establish possible relationships with socioeconomic and meteorological variables.
To gather information about electricity consumption in Londrina from June to August 2011, a questionnaire was distributed in which the inhabitants were asked about household characteristics, such as income, family size and electricity bills. The data collection was performed from October 2011 to April 2012. 106 questionnaires were analyzed, of which 103 are located in the study area (urban perimeter of Londrina).
These data were georeferenced so that they could be plotted and subsequently statistically interpolated in order to provide information for the whole area. Using such information, we analysed and cross-examined various data to identify how the variables are related to energy consumption.
The preliminary results can be seen in the following figures.
 Figure 1: Spatial distribution of income. |
 Figure 2: Spatial distribution of average consumption. |
Acronyms: Belo Horizonte St. (BH), City Library (BIB), Lessence Building (LES), IATE Club (IAT), UTFPR (UTF), Lucia Helena Ave. (LUC), Odilon Carvalho St. (ODI), Servino Freitas St. (SER), Londrina State University (UEL), Exposition Park (PQE), EMBRAPA Soja (EMB), Airport (LDB), SIMEPAR (SIM).
Figure 1 shows the spatial distribution of monthly income and Figure 2 shows the average electricity consumption between the months of May and August of 2011. It is possible to identify several patterns of consumption across the city. The largest values of electricity consumption are in south and southwest, and in a smaller core in the eastern part of the city. The central area has average consumption of up to 250 kWh and the northern area has a secondary maximum of up to 300 kWh.
Inspecting figures 1 and 2 it can be observed that regions where household income is higher coincide with large energy consumption. This can be clearly observed in the west zone of the city, where there are households with monthly income above 20 minimum wages and average electricity consumption has exceeded 500 kWh/month. It should be emphasized that wealthier neighborhoods, such as the Gleba Palhano, are located in the west zone. The same behavior can be seen in the core of high consumption in the east, where also there are residences with high monthly income.
The second part of this study intends to observe how other socioeconomic variables and the energy consumption are related. A further step of this study will be to establish relationships between air temperature fields and electricity consumption. The aim of the methodology is essentially to extract, from any particular urban area, thermal and energy information that can be useful for planners and decision makers.
Text produced by: Thais Borini de Melo and Bruno Misael Vedovatte.
