Collaborative Research: Energy Efficiency and Energy Justice: Understanding Distributional Impacts of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programs and the Underlying Mechanisms

采用节能技术和节能行为有可能大大减少能源需求，改善人们的身体和财务状况。这对于面临能源贫困的家庭尤其重要，因为他们可能会放弃基本需求或从事危险行为以满足其能源需求。美国电力公司目前提供900多个能源效率和保护计划，旨在减少家庭能源消耗和改善生活条件。这些方案要么提供信息，帮助个人改变能源消费习惯，要么提供回扣和贷款等财政激励措施，以降低采用节能技术的成本。然而，关于这些方案的成本效益，证据不一，因为它们的影响取决于收入水平、反弹效应和能源消费行为等因素。不幸的是，许多能源效率和保护计划并没有有效地达到弱势社区，其影响的公平性也没有得到充分的研究。有必要调查这些计划如何能够有效地改变能源消费行为，并解决家庭能源贫困的情况下，本项目研究的异质性影响的多个能源效率和保护计划和潜在的机制，有助于不公平的计划的影响。该项目包括三个部分：1）使用准实验设计评估四种不同的能源效率和保护计划的异质性影响，2）研究异质性影响如何与多维能源贫困相关，以及3）建模能源行为以揭示不公平计划影响背后的机制。这些数据包括塔拉哈西能源供应商提供的实际消费信息以及调查和实验结果。该项目不仅为揭示能源计划及其潜在机制的分布影响提供了基本的科学贡献，而且通过帮助制定更有效和更有针对性的计划来改善消费者的财务和身体健康，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The adoption of energy efficiency technologies and conservation behaviors has the potential to significantly reduce energy demand and improve people's physical and financial well-being. This is particularly important for households facing energy poverty, who may forgo basic needs or engage in risky behaviors to meet their energy needs. U.S. electric utilities currently offer over 900 energy efficiency and conservation programs that aim to reduce household energy consumption and improve living conditions. These programs either provide information to help individuals change their energy consumption habits or offer financial incentives such as rebates and loans to lower the costs of adopting energy-efficient technologies. There is mixed evidence, however, regarding the cost-effectiveness of these programs, as their impacts depend on factors including income levels, rebound effects, and energy consumption behaviors. Unfortunately, many energy efficiency and conservation programs are not effectively reaching disadvantaged communities, and the equity of their impacts is under-studied. There is a need to investigate how these programs can effectively change energy consumption behavior and address instances of energy poverty in households.This project examines the heterogeneous impacts of multiple energy efficiency and conservation programs and the underlying mechanisms that contribute to inequitable program impacts. This project has three parts: 1) evaluating the heterogeneous impacts of four different energy efficiency and conservation programs using quasi-experimental designs, 2) examining how the heterogeneous impacts are related to multi-dimensional energy poverty, and 3) modeling energy behaviors to uncover the mechanisms behind inequitable program impacts. The data include actual consumption information provided by a Tallahassee energy provider as well as survey and experimental results. This project not only provides a fundamental scientific contribution to uncovering the distributional impacts of energy programs and their underlying mechanisms, but also has direct societal benefits by helping develop more effective and better-targeted programs to improve consumers’ financial and physical well-being, particularly in disadvantaged communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.