IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i14p3965-d250494.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Findings from a Pilot Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Bulb Exchange Program at a Neighborhood Scale

Author

Listed:
  • Sadie M. Witt

    (Utah Clean Energy, Salt Lake City, UT 84103, USA)

  • Shelby Stults

    (Utah Clean Energy, Salt Lake City, UT 84103, USA)

  • Emma Rieves

    (Utah Clean Energy, Salt Lake City, UT 84103, USA)

  • Kevin Emerson

    (Utah Clean Energy, Salt Lake City, UT 84103, USA)

  • Daniel L. Mendoza

    (Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
    Pulmonary Division, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA)

Abstract

In the United States, 44% of low-income households struggle to pay their utility bills, affecting their ability to afford necessities such as food and health expenses. There is a high demand for, but low availability of, energy efficiency services in underserved neighborhoods, creating an opportunity for community-based programs to fill this inherent gap. This pilot project aims to bring energy savings and education to a uniquely targeted portion of Salt Lake City, UT, through the exchange of light-emitting diode bulbs and examines its feasibility in addressing energy insecurity at larger scales. Through the 8-month project duration, 1432 bulbs were exchanged at 23 events reaching 181 households in low-income areas that, through a year of use, were estimated to save residents approximately $18,219 in electricity bills, reducing CO 2 emissions from power plants by 122 metric tons. Since this pilot reached less than 1% of households, we extrapolated a reach of 2%, 5%, and 7.5%, and found substantial potential decreases in power plant emissions and financial savings. Ongoing expansion efforts include more direct engagement with trusted members of the targeted communities and stronger attempts to engage participants in energy efficiency education as our project encountered some difficulties in reaching the intended population.

Suggested Citation

  • Sadie M. Witt & Shelby Stults & Emma Rieves & Kevin Emerson & Daniel L. Mendoza, 2019. "Findings from a Pilot Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Bulb Exchange Program at a Neighborhood Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-25, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:14:p:3965-:d:250494
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/14/3965/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/14/3965/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reames, Tony G. & Reiner, Michael A. & Stacey, M. Ben, 2018. "An incandescent truth: Disparities in energy-efficient lighting availability and prices in an urban U.S. county," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 95-103.
    2. Wilson, Eric J.H. & Harris, Chioke B. & Robertson, Joseph J. & Agan, John, 2019. "Evaluating energy efficiency potential in low-income households: A flexible and granular approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 710-737.
    3. Frederiks, Elisha R. & Stenner, Karen & Hobman, Elizabeth V., 2015. "Household energy use: Applying behavioural economics to understand consumer decision-making and behaviour," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1385-1394.
    4. Mendoza, Daniel & Gurney, Kevin Robert & Geethakumar, Sarath & Chandrasekaran, Vandhana & Zhou, Yuyu & Razlivanov, Igor, 2013. "Implications of uncertainty on regional CO2 mitigation policies for the U.S. onroad sector based on a high-resolution emissions estimate," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 386-395.
    5. Steg, Linda, 2008. "Promoting household energy conservation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4449-4453, December.
    6. Bird, Stephen & Hernández, Diana, 2012. "Policy options for the split incentive: Increasing energy efficiency for low-income renters," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 506-514.
    7. Liddell, Christine & Morris, Chris, 2010. "Fuel poverty and human health: A review of recent evidence," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 2987-2997, June.
    8. Benjamin K. Sovacool & Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley & Andreas Goldthau, 2016. "Energy decisions reframed as justice and ethical concerns," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(5), pages 1-6, May.
    9. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2009. "The cultural barriers to renewable energy and energy efficiency in the United States," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 365-373.
    10. Reames, Tony Gerard, 2016. "Targeting energy justice: Exploring spatial, racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in urban residential heating energy efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 549-558.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Krzysztof Skarżyński & Wojciech Żagan, 2022. "Quantitative Assessment of Architectural Lighting Designs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, March.
    2. Piotr Pracki & Krzysztof Skarżyński, 2020. "A Multi-Criteria Assessment Procedure for Outdoor Lighting at the Design Stage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-19, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bouzarovski, Stefan & Simcock, Neil, 2017. "Spatializing energy justice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 640-648.
    2. Xu, Xiaojing & Chen, Chien-fei, 2019. "Energy efficiency and energy justice for U.S. low-income households: An analysis of multifaceted challenges and potential," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 763-774.
    3. Pennell, Grace & Newman, Sarah & Tarekegne, Bethel & Boff, Daniel & Fowler, Richard & Gonzalez, Juan, 2022. "A comparison of building system parameters between affordable and market-rate housing in New York City," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    4. Buylova, Alexandra, 2020. "Spotlight on energy efficiency in Oregon: Investigating dynamics between energy use and socio-demographic characteristics in spatial modeling of residential energy consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    5. Reames, Tony G. & Reiner, Michael A. & Stacey, M. Ben, 2018. "An incandescent truth: Disparities in energy-efficient lighting availability and prices in an urban U.S. county," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 95-103.
    6. Anna Borawska & Mariusz Borawski & Małgorzata Łatuszyńska, 2022. "Effectiveness of Electricity-Saving Communication Campaigns: Neurophysiological Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.
    7. Lukanov, Boris R. & Krieger, Elena M., 2019. "Distributed solar and environmental justice: Exploring the demographic and socio-economic trends of residential PV adoption in California," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    8. Prudence Dato, 2018. "Investment in Energy Efficiency, Adoption of Renewable Energy and Household Behavior: Evidence from OECD Countries," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    9. Streimikiene, Dalia, 2015. "Assessment of reasonably achievable GHG emission reduction target in Lithuanian households," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 460-467.
    10. Chen, Chien-fei & Xu, Xiaojing & Adua, Lazarus & Briggs, Morgan & Nelson, Hannah, 2022. "Exploring the factors that influence energy use intensity across low-, middle-, and high-income households in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    11. Kendel, Adnane & Lazaric, Nathalie & Maréchal, Kevin, 2017. "What do people ‘learn by looking’ at direct feedback on their energy consumption? Results of a field study in Southern France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 593-605.
    12. Tony G. Reames & Dorothy M. Daley & John C. Pierce, 2021. "Exploring the Nexus of Energy Burden, Social Capital, and Environmental Quality in Shaping Health in US Counties," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-13, January.
    13. Spandagos, Constantine & Yarime, Masaru & Baark, Erik & Ng, Tze Ling, 2020. "“Triple Target” policy framework to influence household energy behavior: Satisfy, strengthen, include," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    14. Jin Zhang & Lianrui Ma & Jinkai Li, 2021. "Why Low-Carbon Publicity Effect Limits? The Role of Heterogeneous Intention in Reducing Household Energy Consumption," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.
    15. Jia, Jun-Jun & Xu, Jin-Hua & Fan, Ying, 2018. "Public acceptance of household energy-saving measures in Beijing: Heterogeneous preferences and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 487-499.
    16. Ben-Haim, Yakov, 2021. "Feedback for energy conservation: An info-gap approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    17. Yiming Xiao & Han Wu & Guohua Wang & Hong Mei, 2021. "Mapping the Worldwide Trends on Energy Poverty Research: A Bibliometric Analysis (1999–2019)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-22, February.
    18. Graff, Michelle & Pirog, Maureen, 2019. "Red tape is not so hot: Asset tests impact participation in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 749-764.
    19. Bartiaux, Françoise & Vandeschrick, Christophe & Moezzi, Mithra & Frogneux, Nathalie, 2018. "Energy justice, unequal access to affordable warmth, and capability deprivation: A quantitative analysis for Belgium," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 1219-1233.
    20. Tampakis, Stilianos & Arabatzis, Garyfallos & Tsantopoulos, Georgios & Rerras, Ioannis, 2017. "Citizens’ views on electricity use, savings and production from renewable energy sources: A case study from a Greek island," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 39-49.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:14:p:3965-:d:250494. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.