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Energy, exergy and sustainability assessment of Cameroon residential sector

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Abstract

Rural residential sector is known to employ outdated and old inefficient appliances which lead to significant energy depletion and this has a bleak outcome on sustainability. Energy, exergy and sustainability analyses can be employed to point out the link between energy used and sustainability. This paper aims to highlight the effect of exergy loss on the sustainability of Cameroon residential sector. Hence, an exergy-based sustainability assessment of this sector is performed based on statistical data from 2000 to 2018. Measures to enhance the sustainability of this sector in terms of sustainability indicators are also addressed. The energy and exergy efficiencies of this sector are found to vary respectively from 26.32 to 28.55%; and from 5.95 to 6.58%. It was found from sustainability analysis that, depletion number and sustainability index were almost constant at 0.93 and 1.06, respectively. The waste exergy ratio for biofuel and wood energy are higher than that of kerosene, electricity and liquefied petroleum gas. The environmental destruction index of this sector was found to be high and records a maximum value of 31.60 and the environmental benign index was found to be low and its highest obtained value was 0.035. For biofuel and wood energy, the highest relative irreversibility was found to be 0.59 and 0.48, respectively while the highest lack of productivity was found to be 9.33 and 6.98, respectively. Replacing obsolete and outdated inefficient devices by modern efficient devices can enhance the sustainability of this sector.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energetic, Environment and Thermal Engineering, IUT-FV Bandjoun, UR-ISIE, University of Dschang, P.O Box 134, Bandjoun, Cameroon

    Franck Armel Talla Konchou, Yemeli Wenceslas Koholé, Ghislain Tchuen & Réné Tchinda

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  1. Franck Armel Talla Konchou
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  2. Yemeli Wenceslas Koholé
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  3. Ghislain Tchuen
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  4. Réné Tchinda
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Correspondence to Yemeli Wenceslas Koholé.

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Konchou, F.A.T., Koholé, Y.W., Tchuen, G. et al. Energy, exergy and sustainability assessment of Cameroon residential sector. Environ Dev Sustain 25, 12439–12465 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02574-2

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