In 1986, the government of Vietnam initiated a set of economic reforms (collectively referred to as the Đổi Mới Policy) with the aim of transitioning the Vietnamese economy to a socialist-oriented market economy. The success of these reforms meant that in only 20 years Vietnam went from being one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita GDP of about 200 USD in 1990 to being a middle-income country with a per capita GDP that exceeded 1000 USD in 2008. During this period, the Vietnamese economy grew at an average annual economic growth rate of 7%, second only to that of China. While this rapid economic growth has brought about material affluence, various social problems have also emerged. For example, social inequality has increased, with the gaps between the rich and poor, and urban and rural areas becoming increasingly apparent (Taylor, 2004). Along with this economic growth, a new urban, educated 1 Material Cycles Divisions, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 2 The Hanoi SWM Study Specialist Team, 1. Introduction Demand for electricity is rapidly increasing in Vietnam due to increased use of air conditioners (ACs) and other electrical appliances. Therefore, effective measures are needed for reducing Vietnamese electricity consumption to reduce potential future demand. In 2016, we conducted a survey of 30 households in urban and rural areas of Hanoi and Long An in northern and southern Vietnam, respectively, to examine differences in electricity consumption and the use of ACs and other electrical appliances between different locations and socioeconomic classes. We found that ACs were mainly used in the summer (May–October in Hanoi; March–August in Long An). Households with higher incomes tended to use ACs for most or all of the year. Many households tended to use ACs while sleeping. Younger respondents tended to use ACs for a longer period of time compared with their parents. Respondents in Long An seemed less dependent on ACs compared with those in Hanoi because of regional characteristics and their custom of cold-water bathing. Although increased income is a major factor underlying the use of ACs, other factors such as the structure of modern housing, health awareness, the inability to open windows and local customs were also found. Together, the present results suggest that both hard-type (e.g., improving the thermal performance of residential buildings) and soft-type (e.g., publication of basic tips for energy-saving AC use) policy approaches will be important for reducing future energy consumption in Vietnam. middle class has formed (Nguyen-Marshall et al., 2012). This new middle class, made up of people generally in their 30s with a college degree work at companies with foreign affiliations, are from old perspectives, drive mass-consumption trends in the country (King et al., 2008). The parents of this new middle class, the so-called Bao Cấp generation, had a tough time during their adolescence in the “subsidy period” before the Đổi Mới (1975–1986) (Teekantikun, 2014) and some were educated in the former Soviet Union or in Eastern European countries. The grandparents of this new middle class were born before the country achieved independence, experienced extreme poverty under a protracted period of war (First Indochina War, 1946–1954; and Second Indochina War, 1965–1975); and were middle-aged as the state. This country transitioned intergenerational gap, the current socioeconomic disparities, greatly divided society because, relatively rational have to socialist together with a free values and 2021 AIRIES 75 Global Environmental Research 25/2021: 075–084 printed in Japan 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan No.65 Quan Su Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi City, Vietnam *E-mail: ayoshida@nies.go.jp Key words: air conditioning, consumer behavior, lifestyle, sustainable consumption Abstract Aya YOSHIDA1*, Tran Ngoc HOANG2 and Tomohiro TASAKI1 Household Survey on Air Conditioner Use and Energy Consumption in Vietnam
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