Evaluation and Automation of Energy Consumption: A Tool for National Development

In developing countries like Nigeria, high energy inefficiency and poor technology have led to increased energy costs and wastage. This paper focuses on the second goal of the African Union Agenda 2063, which emphasizes the importance of science, technology, and innovation in creating well-educated citizens and a skills revolution. The objective is to investigate how evaluating and automating energy consumption can contribute to national development. The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, gathering qualitative and quantitative data. The quantitative phase includes data collection from surveys via wellstructured questionnaires to quantify energy usage patterns and assess the potential for automation. The qualitative phase includes in-depth interviews with energy users on their perspectives on energy evaluation and automation. For data analysis, ETAP, SPSS, and Microsoft Excel version 2016 are utilized. Consequently, hardware and software applications are developed to automate energy consumption through the utilization of a microcontroller and a mobile app. The key findings reveal eight loads measured over a year that an automated meter consumed 806.65 Joules of energy, whereas the existing meter consumed 1447.23 Joules. This demonstrates that automated systems consume less energy compared to the existing meters. The study emphasizes the significance of efficient energy consumption for achieving sustainable development goals and explores the potential of automation in optimizing energy usage.