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The Narrative of the Energy Efficiency Gap

Author

Listed:
  • S´ebastien Houde

    (Grenoble Ecole de Management, 38000, Grenoble, France)

  • Tobias Wekhof

    (CER–ETH – Center of Economic Research at ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Abstract
For more than forty years analysts have pointed out that society might be too slow in adopting energy efficiency technologies, a phenomenon known as the Energy Efficiency Gap. There are persistent market barriers that impede these efforts. Eliciting these barriers and their heterogeneity is key for policy design. In this paper, we use narratives, a novel approach based on unstructured text answers in surveys, to elicit the barriers and determinants of energy efficiency investments. Using recent advances in Natural Language Processing (NLP), we turn narratives into quantifiable metrics to rank households' barriers and determinants. We find that financial motives are not the primary barriers or determinants of energy efficiency investments. Instead, we find that such investments are highly opportunistic and co-benefits, such as ecological concerns and comfort, also play an important role. Although there is substantial heterogeneity across the population in the type of barriers and determinants, demographics and building characteristics poorly predict heterogeneity patterns. This has important implications for the targeting of policies. Narratives could be a novel and effective way to implement policy targeting.

Suggested Citation

  • S´ebastien Houde & Tobias Wekhof, 2021. "The Narrative of the Energy Efficiency Gap," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 21/359, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:eth:wpswif:21-359
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    File URL: https://www.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/mtec/cer-eth/cer-eth-dam/documents/working-papers/WP-21-359.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. James Carroll & Eleanor Denny & Ronan C. Lyons, 2020. "Better energy cost information changes household property investment decisions: Evidence from a nationwide experiment," Trinity Economics Papers tep1520, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    2. Łukasz Baszczak, 2023. "Ekonomia narracji – początki nowego nurtu," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 1, pages 66-81.
    3. E. Denny, 2022. "Long-term Energy Cost Labelling for Appliances: Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial in Ireland," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 369-409, September.
    4. Olman Araya Mejías & Cristina Montalvo & Agustín García-Berrocal & María Cubillo & Daniel Gordaliza, 2021. "Energy Savings after Comprehensive Renovations of the Building: A Case Study in the United Kingdom and Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-18, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    energy efficiency gap; natural language processing; policy targeting; open-ended questions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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