The weather affects air conditioner purchases to fill the energy efficiency gap

Energy efficiency improvement is often hindered by the energy efficiency gap. This paper examines the effect of short-run temperature fluctuations on the Energy Star air conditioner purchases in the United States from 2006 to 2019 using transaction-level data. Results show that the probability of purchasing an Energy Star air conditioner increases as the weekly temperature before the transaction deviates from 20–22 °C. A larger response is related to fewer cooling degree days in the previous years, higher electricity prices/income/educational levels/age/rate of owners, more common use of electricity, and stronger concern about climate change. 1 °C increase and decrease from 21 °C would lead to a reduction of total energy expenditure by 35.46 and 17.73 million dollars nationwide (0.13% and 0.06% of the annual total energy expenditure on air conditioning), respectively. Our findings have important policy implications for demand-end interventions to incorporate the potential impact of the ambient physical environment

The weather affects air conditioner purchases to fill the energy efficiency gap

Energy efficiency improvement is often hindered by the energy efficiency gap. This paper examines the effect of short-run temperature fluctuations on the Energy Star air conditioner purchases in the United States from 2006 to 2019 using transaction-level data. Results show that the probability of purchasing an Energy Star air conditioner increases as the weekly temperature before the transaction deviates from 20–22 °C. A larger response is related to fewer cooling degree days in the previous years, higher electricity prices/income/educational levels/age/rate of owners, more common use of electricity, and stronger concern about climate change. 1 °C increase and decrease from 21 °C would lead to a reduction of total energy expenditure by 35.46 and 17.73 million dollars nationwide (0.13% and 0.06% of the annual total energy expenditure on air conditioning), respectively. Our findings have important policy implications for demand-end interventions to incorporate the potential impact of the ambient physical environment

Increase in domestic electricity consumption from particulate air pollution

Accurate assessment of environmental externalities of particulate air pollution is crucial to the design and evaluation of environmental policies. Current evaluations mainly focus on direct damages resulting from exposure, missing indirect co-damages that occur through interactions among the externalities, human behaviours and technologies. Our study provides an empirical assessment of such co-damages using customer-level daily and hourly electricity data of a large sample of residential and commercial consumers in Arizona, United States. We use an instrumental variable panel regression approach and find that particulate matter air pollution increases electricity consumption in residential buildings as well as in retail and recreation service industries. Air pollution also reduces the actual electricity generated by distributed-solar panels. Lower-income and minority ethnic groups are disproportionally impacted by air pollution and pay higher electricity bills associated with pollution avoidance, stressing the importance of incorporating the consideration of environmental justice in energy policy-making

Assessing inequities in heat pump adoption across the U.S

Electrifying space heating is essential to reduce climate impacts in the building sector, and heat pumps have emerged as an energy-efficient and increasingly cost-effective solution. However, other clean energy technologies (e.g., rooftop solar) are less likely to be adopted in underserved communities, and thus policies incentivizing their adoption can be regressive. Unlike previously-studied technologies, the effects of heat pumps on energy bills may be positive or negative, and thus inequities in their adoption are context specific. Here we propose a framework for identifying inequities in heat pump adoption and map these inequities across the U.S. We find that households in communities of color and with high percentages of renters are adopting heat pumps at lower rates across the board, but differences are largest in areas where heat pumps are likely to reduce energy bills. Public policies must address these inequities to advance beneficial electrification and energy justice

Industrial Firms ’ Choices of Energy Efficiency Investments: A Mixed Multinomial-Poisson Approach

The industrial sector accounts for about a third of the energy usage in the United States. Given the potential of energy savings from the industrial sector, it is important to look at the factors influencing industrial firms ’ decision to adopt energy efficiency measures. The Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) program offered by U.S. Department of Energy provides free energy efficiency assessments to small and medium sized industrial firms. In most situations, multiple energy efficiency recommendations are made for a single firm. The firm then chooses which recommendation(s) to implement. This paper uses the IAC database, with 15,412 assessments and 115,710 recommendations, to empirically analyze industrial firms ’ choices of energy efficiency investments. We build an instrumental variable (IV) Poisson model and an IV probit model to analyze a firm’s decision of both how many and what recommendations to implement. The model results show that when making the decision of whether or not to invest in an energy efficiency measure, industrial firms put more weight on the upfront investment cost than the energy savings. Thus industrial firms are more likely to invest in smaller energy efficiency projects that cost less but save less energy. With the presence of rebates to reduce the upfront investment cost, industrial firms are more likely to invest in an energy efficiency measure, which justifies the continuing support from government to subsidize the upfront investment in energy efficiency. Another interesting implication is that more recommendations can be made by an IAC center to a firm, which can increase the probability of a single recommendation to be implemented.

Water savings of LEED-certified buildings

The LEED rating system awards credits for a variety of criteria, including water efficiency. LEED certification indicates that the building is designed to conserve water. Given freshwater supply shortages and sustainable goals, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether LEED buildings suffer from the water performance gap. The water performance gap is the difference between planned and actual water savings. Compared with previous studies, we analyze a substantially larger sample of 10,557 buildings in six U.S. cities covering 162 million square meters; 354 of those buildings are LEED certified. In particular, we focus on three types of buildings: offices, K-12 schools, and multifamily housing. First, we identify comparable non-LEED buildings with propensity score matching. Second, we apply weighted regression to estimate the effect of LEED certification on water savings using matched samples. Statistical analysis indicates no significant differences in water consumption between LEED and non-LEED buildings. LEED-certified buildings use no less water than non-LEED buildings, suggesting a water performance gap for LEED buildings. A 10-fold cross-validation method has been applied to validate the generalization accuracy of the established models. Based on our results, we propose that LEED system should secure more points for water efficiency and apply weights based on local conditions and building attributes. Moreover, the government should incentivize facility managers to reduce technology failure, promote long-term monitoring, and raise public awareness regarding water conservation

Increasing voluntary enrollment in time-of-use electricity rates: Findings from a survey experiment

Relative to flat rate pricing, time-of-use (TOU) electricity rates improve alignment of household incentives to reduce electricity consumption during times when the wholesale cost of electricity is expensive. This research seeks to understand factors of the TOU plan that impact voluntary enrollment with the purpose of identifying levers that are at the disposal of a utility to increase voluntary enrollment. We conducted an survey experiment of people living in the United States. The survey randomized the peak to off-peak price ratios, the peak hours, and the number of TOU plans being offered. Our results indicate several policy-relevant findings. On average, when only one TOU plan is offered, the peak to off-peak price ratio has no impact on enrollment decisions. Respondents who are offered more than one TOU plan are 14.2 percentage points more likely to enroll than respondents only offered one TOU plan, which suggests that the ability to compare TOU plans is an important mechanism. Further, when multiple plans are presented, the average respondent is price responsive, preferring TOU plans with a large peak to off-peak price ratio (larger price spread). Lastly, people prefer shorter on-peak period lengths when either one or multiple plans are offered

The Effect of Rebate and Loan Incentives on Residential Heat Pump Adoption: Evidence from North Carolina

Electrification can promote deep decarbonization to tackle climate change with a cleaner power grid. Electric heat pumps provide a feasible and energy-efficient way to replace fossil-fuel furnaces for space heating. Rebate and loan programs are the two most widely used incentives for residential heat pump installations in the U.S. This study compares the impacts of rebate and loan incentives on residential air-source heat pump adoption in North Carolina. First, our results show that the rebate program ($300–$450 per system) increases the adoption density by 13% in a year. Second, we find that the rebate program is more effective in promoting heat pump adoption for average consumers than two loan programs (annual loan interest rate: 9%, 3.9%). Third, we find the rebate program is less effective for low-income households than high-income households. Lastly, we compare the rebate with the loan programs in terms of cost-effectiveness and we find the rebate program is more cost-effective under certain circumstances

Effectiveness of carbon dioxide emission target is linked to country ambition and education level

Abstract In response to the Paris Agreement, a growing number of countries, 123 in total, have committed to carbon reduction targets. While existing research has assessed various policies’ effectiveness in achieving these targets, the potential of the act of goal-setting itself as a policy instrument has been underexplored. Here we leveraged a comprehensive panel dataset spanning 163 countries from 2011 to 2022 and employed a rigorous difference-in-difference model. Empirical findings reveal that both proposing carbon reduction targets and setting higher targets effectively reduce emissions intensity. The mechanism driving the impact of carbon reduction targets on CO2 emissions centers on the level of education, rather than renewable energy capacity, requiring further investigation to the mechanism. Subsequent analysis establishes connections between target levels and renewable energy capacity. Our results advocate for dynamic updates of carbon reduction targets aligned with renewable energy capacity when formulating climate objectives

Estimation of change in house sales prices in the United States after heat pump adoption

Electrifying most fossil-fuel-burning applications provides a pathway to achieving cost-effective deep decarbonization of the economy. Heat pumps offer a feasible and energy-efficient way to electrify space heating. Here, we show a positive house price premium associated with air source heat pump installations across 23 states in the United States. Residences with an air source heat pump enjoy a 4.3–7.1% (or US$10,400–17,000) price premium on average. Residents who are environmentally conscious, middle class and live in regions with mild climate are more likely to pay a larger price premium. We find that estimated price premiums are larger than the calculated total social benefits of switching to heat pumps. Policymakers could provide information about the estimated price premium to influence the adoption of heat pumps