IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v134y2016i1d10.1007_s10584-015-1527-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modeling climate-driven changes in U.S. buildings energy demand

Author

Listed:
  • Marilyn A. Brown

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Matt Cox

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Ben Staver

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Paul Baer

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Abstract

How climate change might impact energy demand is not well understood, yet energy forecasting requires that assumptions be specified. This paper reviews the literature on the relationship between global warming and the demand for space cooling in buildings. It then estimates two key parameters that link energy for space cooling to cooling degree days (CDDs) using data for nine U.S. Census divisions, which is the spatial resolution of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS). The first parameter is the set point temperature for calculating CDDs; the second is the exponent for representing the relationship between changes in CDDs and changes in electricity consumption for space cooling. We find that the best-fitting CDDs have a set point of 67 °F (19.4 °C), for both residential and commercial buildings, rather than the conventional 65 °F (18.3 °C). Set points also vary by region, with warmer regions tending to have higher set points. When CDDs are based on the conventional set point, the best fitting exponent is 1.5 for both residential and commercial buildings, indicating that space cooling is more climate-sensitive than is specified in NEMS. As a result, the official projections of U.S. energy consumption would appear to underestimate the energy required for space cooling.

Suggested Citation

  • Marilyn A. Brown & Matt Cox & Ben Staver & Paul Baer, 2016. "Modeling climate-driven changes in U.S. buildings energy demand," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 29-44, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:134:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-015-1527-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-015-1527-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-015-1527-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-015-1527-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mansur, Erin T. & Mendelsohn, Robert & Morrison, Wendy, 2008. "Climate change adaptation: A study of fuel choice and consumption in the US energy sector," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 175-193, March.
    2. Isaac, Morna & van Vuuren, Detlef P., 2009. "Modeling global residential sector energy demand for heating and air conditioning in the context of climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 507-521, February.
    3. Bessec, Marie & Fouquau, Julien, 2008. "The non-linear link between electricity consumption and temperature in Europe: A threshold panel approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2705-2721, September.
    4. Maximilian Auffhammer & Anin Aroonruengsawat, 2011. "Simulating the impacts of climate change, prices and population on California’s residential electricity consumption," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 191-210, December.
    5. Wilkerson, Jordan T. & Cullenward, Danny & Davidian, Danielle & Weyant, John P., 2013. "End use technology choice in the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS): An analysis of the residential and commercial building sectors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 773-784.
    6. Henley, Andrew & Peirson, John, 1998. "Residential energy demand and the interaction of price and temperature: British experimental evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 157-171, April.
    7. repec:dau:papers:123456789/8180 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Sailor, D.J & Pavlova, A.A, 2003. "Air conditioning market saturation and long-term response of residential cooling energy demand to climate change," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(9), pages 941-951.
    9. Sailor, David J, 2001. "Relating residential and commercial sector electricity loads to climate—evaluating state level sensitivities and vulnerabilities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 26(7), pages 645-657.
    10. Hekkenberg, M. & Moll, H.C. & Uiterkamp, A.J.M. Schoot, 2009. "Dynamic temperature dependence patterns in future energy demand models in the context of climate change," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 1797-1806.
    11. James McFarland & Yuyu Zhou & Leon Clarke & Patrick Sullivan & Jesse Colman & Wendy Jaglom & Michelle Colley & Pralit Patel & Jiyon Eom & Son Kim & G. Kyle & Peter Schultz & Boddu Venkatesh & Juanita , 2015. "Erratum to: Impacts of rising air temperatures and emissions mitigation on electricity demand and supply in the United States: a multi-model comparison," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 739-739, October.
    12. Apadula, Francesco & Bassini, Alessandra & Elli, Alberto & Scapin, Simone, 2012. "Relationships between meteorological variables and monthly electricity demand," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 346-356.
    13. Gupta, Eshita, 2012. "Global warming and electricity demand in the rapidly growing city of Delhi: A semi-parametric variable coefficient approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1407-1421.
    14. James McFarland & Yuyu Zhou & Leon Clarke & Patrick Sullivan & Jesse Colman & Wendy Jaglom & Michelle Colley & Pralit Patel & Jiyon Eom & Son Kim & G. Kyle & Peter Schultz & Boddu Venkatesh & Juanita , 2015. "Impacts of rising air temperatures and emissions mitigation on electricity demand and supply in the United States: a multi-model comparison," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 131(1), pages 111-125, July.
    15. Olivier Deschênes & Michael Greenstone, 2011. "Climate Change, Mortality, and Adaptation: Evidence from Annual Fluctuations in Weather in the US," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 152-185, October.
    16. Sailor, David J. & Muñoz, J.Ricardo, 1997. "Sensitivity of electricity and natural gas consumption to climate in the U.S.A.—Methodology and results for eight states," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 987-998.
    17. Yun, Geun Young & Steemers, Koen, 2011. "Behavioural, physical and socio-economic factors in household cooling energy consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 2191-2200, June.
    18. Eshita Gupta, 2012. "Global warming and electricity demand in the rapidly growing city of Delhi: A Semi-parametric variable coefficient approach," Discussion Papers 12-02, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    19. Mirasgedis, S. & Sarafidis, Y. & Georgopoulou, E. & Lalas, D.P. & Moschovits, M. & Karagiannis, F. & Papakonstantinou, D., 2006. "Models for mid-term electricity demand forecasting incorporating weather influences," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 208-227.
    20. Henley, Andrew & Peirson, John, 1997. "Non-linearities in Electricity Demand and Temperature: Parametric versus Non-parametric Methods," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 59(1), pages 149-162, February.
    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. Emodi, Nnaemeka Vincent & Chaiechi, Taha & Alam Beg, A.B.M. Rabiul, 2019. "A techno-economic and environmental assessment of long-term energy policies and climate variability impact on the energy system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 329-346.
    2. Wang, Yaoping & Bielicki, Jeffrey M., 2018. "Acclimation and the response of hourly electricity loads to meteorological variables," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 473-485.
    3. Jones, Andrew & Nock, Destenie & Samaras, Constantine & Qiu, Yueming (Lucy) & Xing, Bo, 2023. "Climate change impacts on future residential electricity consumption and energy burden: A case study in Phoenix, Arizona," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    4. Tettey, Uniben Yao Ayikoe & Dodoo, Ambrose & Gustavsson, Leif, 2017. "Energy use implications of different design strategies for multi-storey residential buildings under future climates," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 846-860.
    5. Palacios-Garcia, E.J. & Moreno-Munoz, A. & Santiago, I. & Flores-Arias, J.M. & Bellido-Outeirino, F.J. & Moreno-Garcia, I.M., 2018. "A stochastic modelling and simulation approach to heating and cooling electricity consumption in the residential sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1080-1091.
    6. Ben Parkes & Jennifer Cronin & Olivier Dessens & Benjamin Sultan, 2019. "Climate change in Africa: costs of mitigating heat stress," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 461-476, June.
    7. Abdullah Khalid Abdullah & Abeer Darsaleh & Shaimaa Abdelbaqi & Maatouk Khoukhi, 2022. "Thermal Performance Evaluation of Window Shutters for Residential Buildings: A Case Study of Abu Dhabi, UAE," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-21, August.
    8. Westermann, Paul & Welzel, Matthias & Evins, Ralph, 2020. "Using a deep temporal convolutional network as a building energy surrogate model that spans multiple climate zones," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).

    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. Marilyn Brown & Matt Cox & Ben Staver & Paul Baer, 2016. "Modeling climate-driven changes in U.S. buildings energy demand," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 29-44, January.
    2. Daniel C. Steinberg & Bryan K. Mignone & Jordan Macknick & Yinong Sun & Kelly Eurek & Andrew Badger & Ben Livneh & Kristen Averyt, 2020. "Decomposing supply-side and demand-side impacts of climate change on the US electricity system through 2050," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 125-139, January.
    3. Matthew Ranson & Lauren Morris & Alex Kats-Rubin, 2014. "Climate Change and Space Heating Energy Demand: A Review of the Literature," NCEE Working Paper Series 201407, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Dec 2014.
    4. Li, Jianglong & Yang, Lisha & Long, Houyin, 2018. "Climatic impacts on energy consumption: Intensive and extensive margins," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 332-343.
    5. Harish, Santosh & Singh, Nishmeet & Tongia, Rahul, 2020. "Impact of temperature on electricity demand: Evidence from Delhi and Indian states," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    6. Wang, Yaoping & Bielicki, Jeffrey M., 2018. "Acclimation and the response of hourly electricity loads to meteorological variables," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 473-485.
    7. Auffhammer, Maximilian & Mansur, Erin T., 2014. "Measuring climatic impacts on energy consumption: A review of the empirical literature," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 522-530.
    8. Ozhegov, Evgeniy & Popova, Evgeniya, 2017. "Demand for electricity and weather conditions: Nonparametric analysis," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 46, pages 55-73.
    9. Hongliang Zhang & Jianhong E. Mu & Bruce A. McCarl & Jialing Yu, 2022. "The impact of climate change on global energy use," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 1-19, January.
    10. Reza Fazeli & Brynhildur Davidsdottir & Jonas Hlynur Hallgrimsson, 2016. "Climate Impact On Energy Demand For Space Heating In Iceland," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(02), pages 1-23, May.
    11. Fazeli, Reza & Davidsdottir, Brynhildur & Hallgrimsson, Jonas Hlynur, 2016. "Residential energy demand for space heating in the Nordic countries: Accounting for interfuel substitution," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1210-1226.
    12. Gupta, Eshita, 2012. "Global warming and electricity demand in the rapidly growing city of Delhi: A semi-parametric variable coefficient approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1407-1421.
    13. Hekkenberg, M. & Moll, H.C. & Uiterkamp, A.J.M. Schoot, 2009. "Dynamic temperature dependence patterns in future energy demand models in the context of climate change," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 1797-1806.
    14. Eshita Gupta, 2016. "The Effect Of Development On The Climate Sensitivity Of Electricity Demand In India," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(02), pages 1-49, May.
    15. Jose M. Garrido-Perez & David Barriopedro & Ricardo García-Herrera & Carlos Ordóñez, 2021. "Impact of climate change on Spanish electricity demand," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 1-18, April.
    16. Jianhua Huang & Kevin Robert Gurney, 2016. "Impact of climate change on U.S. building energy demand: sensitivity to spatiotemporal scales, balance point temperature, and population distribution," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 171-185, July.
    17. François Cohen & Matthieu Glachant & Magnus Söderberg, 2017. "The cost of adapting to climate change: evidence from the US residential sector," Working Papers hal-01695171, HAL.
    18. Psiloglou, B.E. & Giannakopoulos, C. & Majithia, S. & Petrakis, M., 2009. "Factors affecting electricity demand in Athens, Greece and London, UK: A comparative assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 1855-1863.
    19. Chabouni, Naima & Belarbi, Yacine & Benhassine, Wassim, 2020. "Electricity load dynamics, temperature and seasonality Nexus in Algeria," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    20. Waite, Michael & Cohen, Elliot & Torbey, Henri & Piccirilli, Michael & Tian, Yu & Modi, Vijay, 2017. "Global trends in urban electricity demands for cooling and heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 786-802.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:spr:climat:v:134:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-015-1527-7. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.