IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v87y2010i2p691-702.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Preliminary assessment of the Louisiana Home Energy Rebate Offer program using IPMVP guidelines

Author

Listed:
  • Kaiser, Mark J.
  • Pulsipher, Allan G.

Abstract

The Louisiana Home Energy Rebate Offer (HERO) is a residential energy conservation program established in 1999 to provide rebates for qualified applicants to build new homes that are more energy efficient or improve the energy efficiency of existing homes. Energy conservation programs require careful evaluation because of the high cost to implement the measures and the expectation that they will reduce energy use. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that residential energy conservation measures in a hot and humid climate can be evaluated using the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP), a best practice methodology commonly used in industrial and commercial performance-based contracts, but rarely, if ever, applied to residential programs. Using a random sample of 60 HERO participants, we were able to construct statistically significant electricity consumption baseline models for 90% of households. We determined that more than half of the sample participants consumed more electricity after their efficiency improvement, with an average net household savings of 172Â kWh/yr, about 1% pre-retrofit consumption. A description of the baseline model construction, preliminary program evaluation, and recommendations are provided. All program conclusions are considered preliminary until a larger and more comprehensive study is conducted.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaiser, Mark J. & Pulsipher, Allan G., 2010. "Preliminary assessment of the Louisiana Home Energy Rebate Offer program using IPMVP guidelines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 691-702, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:87:y:2010:i:2:p:691-702
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-2619(09)00315-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Lam, Joseph C. & Wan, Kevin K.W. & Wong, S.L. & Lam, Tony N.T., 2010. "Long-term trends of heat stress and energy use implications in subtropical climates," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 608-612, February.
    2. Joseph Eto & Suzie Kito & Leslie Shown & Richard Sonnenblick, 2000. "Where Did the Money Go? The Cost and Performance of the Largest Commercial Sector DSM Programs," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 23-49.
    3. 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.
    4. Gilbert E. Metcalf & Kevin A. Hassett, 1999. "Measuring The Energy Savings From Home Improvement Investments: Evidence From Monthly Billing Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(3), pages 516-528, August.
    5. Stigson, Peter & Dotzauer, Erik & Yan, Jinyue, 2009. "Improving policy making through government-industry policy learning: The case of a novel Swedish policy framework," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(4), pages 399-406, April.
    6. Fels, Margaret F. & Goldberg, Miriam L., 1984. "Using billing and weather data to separate thermostat from insulation effects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 9(5), pages 439-445.
    7. Brown, Marilyn A. & Berry, Linda G., 1995. "Determinants of program effectiveness: Results of the national weatherization evaluation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 729-743.
    8. Dewees, Donald N & Wilson, Thomas A, 1990. "Cold Houses and Warm Climates Revisited: On Keeping Warm in Chicago, or Paradox Lost: Comment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(3), pages 656-663, June.
    9. Heslop, Louise A & Moran, Lori & Cousineau, Amy, 1981. ""Consciousness" in Energy Conservation Behavior: An Exploratory Study," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 8(3), pages 299-305, December.
    10. Friedman, David, 1987. "Cold Houses in Warm Climates and Vice Versa: A Paradox of Rational Heating," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1089-1097, October.
    11. Joseph Eto & Edward Vine & Leslie Shown & Richard Sonnenblick & Chris Payne, 1996. "The Total Cost and Measured Performance of Utility-Sponsored Energy Efficiency Programs," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 31-51.
    12. Stein, Jeff Ross & Meier, Alan, 2000. "Accuracy of home energy rating systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 339-354.
    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. Ye, Xianming & Xia, Xiaohua, 2016. "Optimal metering plan for measurement and verification on a lighting case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 580-592.
    2. Miriam Berretta & Joshua Furgeson & Yue (Nicole) Wu & Collins Zamawe & Ian Hamilton & John Eyers, 2021. "Residential energy efficiency interventions: A meta‐analysis of effectiveness studies," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), December.
    3. McAndrew, Ryan & Mulcahy, Rory & Gordon, Ross & Russell-Bennett, Rebekah, 2021. "Household energy efficiency interventions: A systematic literature review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    4. Ke, Ming-Tsun & Yeh, Chia-Hung & Su, Cheng-Jie, 2017. "Cloud computing platform for real-time measurement and verification of energy performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 497-507.
    5. Llovera, Jordi & Potau, Xavi & Medrano, Marc & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2011. "Design and performance of energy-efficient solar residential house in Andorra," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 1343-1353, April.
    6. Xia, Xiaohua & Zhang, Jiangfeng, 2013. "Mathematical description for the measurement and verification of energy efficiency improvement," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 247-256.
    7. Olinga, Zadok & Xia, Xiaohua & Ye, Xianming, 2017. "A cost-effective approach to handle measurement and verification uncertainties of energy savings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 1600-1609.

    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. Kaiser, M.J. & Pulsipher, A.G., 2003. "A generalized modeling framework for public benefit fund program valuation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 519-538.
    2. Levinson, Arik & Niemann, Scott, 2004. "Energy use by apartment tenants when landlords pay for utilities," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 51-75, March.
    3. Kaiser, Mark J. & Pulsipher, Allan G., 2003. "Resource allocation decision modeling for a Louisiana Public Benefit Fund program," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 639-667, November.
    4. Kaiser, Mark J. & Pulsipher, Allan G. & Baumann, Robert H., 2004. "The potential economic and environmental impact of a Public Benefit Fund in Louisiana," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 191-206, January.
    5. Frondel, Manuel & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2005. "Evaluating environmental programs: The perspective of modern evaluation research," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 515-526, December.
    6. Ana Ramos & Xavier Labandeira & Andreas Löschel, 2016. "Pro-environmental Households and Energy Efficiency in Spain," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(2), pages 367-393, February.
    7. Kenneth Gillingham & Richard G. Newell & Karen Palmer, 2009. "Energy Efficiency Economics and Policy," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 597-620, September.
    8. Toshi H. Arimura, Shanjun Li, Richard G. Newell, and Karen Palmer, 2012. "Cost-Effectiveness of Electricity Energy Efficiency Programs," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    9. Boogen, Nina & Datta, Souvik & Filippini, Massimo, 2017. "Demand-side management by electric utilities in Switzerland: Analyzing its impact on residential electricity demand," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 402-414.
    10. 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.
    11. Meredith Fowlie & Michael Greenstone & Catherine Wolfram, 2018. "Do Energy Efficiency Investments Deliver? Evidence from the Weatherization Assistance Program," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(3), pages 1597-1644.
    12. Kenneth Gillingham & Karen Palmer, 2014. "Bridging the Energy Efficiency Gap: Policy Insights from Economic Theory and Empirical Evidence," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 8(1), pages 18-38, January.
    13. Choi, Seok Joon & Kim, Sangsin, 2012. "Why Do Landlords Include Utilities in Rent? Evidence from the 2000 Housing Discrimination Study (HDS) and the 2002 American Housing Survey (AHS)," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 28-40.
    14. Lauren Giandomenico & Maya Papineau & Nicholas Rivers, 2022. "A Systematic Review of Energy Efficiency Home Retrofit Evaluation Studies," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 689-708, October.
    15. Dulleck, Uwe & Kaufmann, Sylvia, 2004. "Do customer information programs reduce household electricity demand?--the Irish program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1025-1032, June.
    16. Xavier Labandeira & Ana Ramos, 2012. "Household Environmental Attitudes and Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Evidence from Spanish Data," Working Papers fa08-2012, Economics for Energy.
    17. Samuel Asumadu Sarkodie & Maruf Yakubu Ahmed & Phebe Asantewaa Owusu, 2022. "Global adaptation readiness and income mitigate sectoral climate change vulnerabilities," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet & Anna Petronevich & Laurent Faucheux, 2018. "How do lenders price energy efficiency? Evidence from posted interest rates for unsecured credit in France [Comment les créditeurs valorisent-ils l'efficacité énergétique? Une analyse des taux d'in," Working Papers hal-01890636, HAL.
    19. Reichardt, Kristin & Rogge, Karoline S. & Negro, Simona, 2015. "Unpacking the policy processes for addressing systemic problems: The case of the technological innovation system of offshore wind in Germany," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S2/2015, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    20. Johnston, David W. & Knott, Rachel & Mendolia, Silvia & Siminski, Peter, 2021. "Upside-Down Down-Under: Cold Temperatures Reduce Learning in Australia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    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:eee:appene:v:87:y:2010:i:2:p:691-702. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    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.