ELECTRICAL ENERGY SAVING APPROACHES ADOPTED IN GENERAL HOSPITALS IN KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the electrical energy saving approaches adopted in general hospitals in Kogi State, Nigeria. The study sought out the electrical energy efficiency appliances and devices used, the maintenance practices adopted for efficient electrical energy saving, the attitudes of staff towards electrical energy savings, electrical energy appliances and devices refurbished and staff motivations towards electrical energy savings in general hospitals in Kogi State. Five research questions and five null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The targeted population for the study was 672 respondents. Through multi staged sampling techniques, 26 Doctors, 135 Nurses, 20 Nurse Aides, 9 Electrical Technicians and 11 Laundry staff were sampled. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, two from the Department of Industrial and Technology Education, and one from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Minna. Cronbach Alpha was used to ascertain the extent of the internal consistency of the instrument and a reliability coefficient was given for clusters A: 0.85, B: 0.76, C: 0.78, D: 0.81 and E: 0.80 respectively. An overall reliability coefficient of 0.80 was obtained for the entire instrument which was very high and therefore considered acceptable for the study. Data collected was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 23). Mean and Standard Deviation was used to answer the research questions, while ANOVA was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings clearly revealed that the mean of 2.26 was obtained which indicated that they rarely use efficient electrical energy appliances and devices; mean of 1.88 were obtained which as well indicated that they rarely adopt maintenance practices for efficient electrical energy saving; mean of 2.96 was obtained which indicated that staff agreed to proper attitudes towards electrical energy savings; and mean of 1.47 was obtained which indicated that they strongly disagreed with the ways staff are motivated towards electrical energy savings. It is recommended that the hospital management board should ensure the installation of electrical energy saving appliances and devices in the hospital, The attitude of staff should be improved towards electrical energy savings through training, seminar and workshop on the importance of energy savings in an organization,The attitude of staff should be improved through promotional energy savings activities such as wall stickers, labels charts and illustration to constantly remind staff and other users of electrical energy about electrical energy savings. Staff can be motivated towards electrical energy savings through provision of special allowance to the best electrical energy saving staff. Free sponsored trips and other incentives should also be used to motivate staff.