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Transient and Persistent Energy Efficiency in the US Residential Sector: Evidence from Household-level Data

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Abstract
In this paper, we measure the energy efficiency in residential energy consumption using a panel dataset comprised of 40,246 observations from US households observed over 1997-2009. We fit a stochastic frontier model of the minimum input of energy needed to meet the level of energy services demanded by the household. This benchmarking exercise produces a transient and a persistent efficiency index for each household and each time period. We estimate that the US residential sector could save approximately 10% of its total energy consumption if it reduced persistent inefficiencies and 17% if it was able to eliminate transient inefficiencies. These figures are in line with the assessment by McKinsey (2008, 2009, 2013) and greater than those indicated by the Electric Power Research Institute (2009). They suggest that savings in energy use and associated emissions of greenhouse gases (and other pollutants) may benefit from both policy measures that attain short-run behavioral changes (e.g., nudges, social norms, display of real-time information about usage, and real-time pricing) as well measures aimed at the long run, such as energy-efficiency regulations, incentives on the purchase of high-efficiency equipment and incentives towards a change of habits in the use of the equipment.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Alberini & Massimo Filippini, 2015. "Transient and Persistent Energy Efficiency in the US Residential Sector: Evidence from Household-level Data," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 15/220, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:eth:wpswif:15-220
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    File URL: http://www.cer.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/mtec/cer-eth/cer-eth-dam/documents/working-papers/WP-15-220.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Klára Čermáková & Eduard Hromada, 2022. "Change in the Affordability of Owner-Occupied Housing in the Context of Rising Energy Prices," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Blasch, Julia & Boogen, Nina & Filippini, Massimo & Kumar, Nilkanth, 2017. "Explaining electricity demand and the role of energy and investment literacy on end-use efficiency of Swiss households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(S1), pages 89-102.
    3. Eri Nakamura & Fumitoshi Mizutani, 2019. "Necessary demand and extra demand of public utility product: identification using the stochastic frontier model," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(1), pages 45-64, March.
    4. Lester C. Hunt & Paraskevas Kipouros, 2023. "Energy Demand and Energy Efficiency in Developing Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-26, January.
    5. Boogen, Nina, 2017. "Estimating the potential for electricity savings in households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 288-300.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    US residential energy demand; efficiency and frontier analysis; Household data; CO2 emissions reductions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D - Microeconomics
    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics
    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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