American Journal of Engineering Research (AJER) 2016 American Journal of Engineering Research (AJER) e-ISSN: 2320-0847 p-ISSN : 2320-0936 Volume-5, Issue-8, pp-01-11 www.ajer.org Research Paper Open Access www.ajer.org Page 1 Assessment of House-Keeping Practices of Generators Used As Alternative Source of Power in Residential Buildings Wahab, A.B. Department of Building, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria E-Mail: wahabak2002@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: Inadequate power supply from the national grid over the years has led to the ubiquitous use of various types of generating sets by the occupants of buildings. This study was carried out to identify and examine house-keeping practices adopted by occupants of residential building in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria before and during use of generating sets. The study area was stratified into core, transition and suburban residential zones. Data were obtained by carrying out field observations and administering questionnaires on the occupants of residential buildings. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyse the data collected. The findings revealed that the most adopted house-keeping practice by residential buildings occupants in the core and transition zone was provision of balanced rest position (HKPI = 0.6425, 0.7353), and in the suburban zone, it was putting the generator in a ventilated environment (HKPI = 0.8246). The mean distance of positioning generators from external walls of buildings in the core, transition and suburban residential zones were 2.09, 3.59 and 7.39m respectively. The variation in the mode and level of house-keeping practices adopted was significantly influenced by the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, typology of buildings and their degree of compliance with statutory environmental and planning laws. The study recommended that in the face of poor power supply in the country, building occupants should beeducated and enforced to position their generating sets in well-designed outdoor enclosure features and at specified distance limits from external walls of their buildings. Keywords: Power, Shortage, Buildings, Generators, Occupants, Practices I. INTRODUCTION Buildings are constructed to serve as a unit of environment, meet housing and shelter needs and have much influence on the health and efficiency of the occupants. It is also considered as one of the three most fundamental human needs (Mabogunje, 2007; Adedokun et al., 2011). Buildings are really meant to provide shelter for the occupants, but there is need for the procurement and installations of engineering and service systems to give the occupants the required comfort. These installations depend mostly on the use of one form of energy or the other to power them (Komolafe, 2011). Energy is fundamental for the provision of basic needs of the populace. It is considered to be a very important substance for development and has been a vital and indispensable input for the economic needs of the present age. It is undoubtedly the driving force of industrialization (Onyegegbu, 2003); and a powerful engine of economic and social opportunity, such that no nation can manage to develop without ensuring access to the required amount of energy to power service systems to be used in buildings (Steer et al., 2000). In spite of Nigeria’s huge resource endowment in energy and enormous investment in the provision of energy infrastructure, performance of the power sector has remained poor in comparison with other developing economies. According to World Bank (2005), Nigeria had the highest percentage of system losses at 33 to 41% with the lowest generating capacity factor at 20%, the lowest average revenue at US dollars of 1.56 KWh, the lowest rate of return at 8%, and the longest average accounts receivable period of 15 months when compared with those of other developing countries. As a result of this fundamental problem, households, businesses and industrial premises rely on their self-produced electricity from generators that have attendant operating and capital costs (Idiata et al., 2010; Awofeso, 2011). A constant power supply is a critical component of every successful modern business, and where power failure happens more often and takes more time to fix, a reliable standby generator is really essential to power all the equipment and systems (Pabla, 2003; Gross, 1986). Today, the most common form of off-grid electricity supply are generators running on diesel or gasoline. Generators are used not only by rural households, but also by the grid-connected households and industries as a more stable supplement to the grid power. The