IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v128y2019icp763-774.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy efficiency and energy justice for U.S. low-income households: An analysis of multifaceted challenges and potential

Author

Listed:
  • Xu, Xiaojing
  • Chen, Chien-fei

Abstract

Energy poverty intertwines with the issues of energy inequality and energy justice, presenting a particular challenge for low-income households (LIHs). This study explores energy justice in the U.S. through the lens of several interconnected questions: Do energy assistance programs have adequate participation rates? How accessible are energy efficiency (EE) appliances? Are there different energy practices across income groups? How does time schedule of energy practices differ across income groups, and how is it connected to energy demand flexibility? Based on two representative data sets, this study finds that affordability and accessibility remain serious problems for LIHs. LIHs have lower participation rates in many EE programs and own fewer EE appliances and smart grid technologies. Additionally, thermostat control strategies are different across income levels. LIHs tend to set one fixed temperature, even when they own a programmable thermostat, which is less energy efficient. LIHs engage in more energy practices throughout the daytime than their counterparts and show the least pronounced morning and evening peaks, indicating a relatively inflexible schedule and barriers to accepting demand response programs. This study concludes with policy implications for making energy more affordable, accessible, flexible, and better for the environment, while being fair to those often underserved.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:128:y:2019:i:c:p:763-774
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.01.020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421519300205
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.01.020?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. Goldthau, Andreas & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2012. "The uniqueness of the energy security, justice, and governance problem," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 232-240.
    2. Siano, Pierluigi, 2014. "Demand response and smart grids—A survey," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 461-478.
    3. Faruqui, Ahmad & Harris, Dan & Hledik, Ryan, 2010. "Unlocking the [euro]53 billion savings from smart meters in the EU: How increasing the adoption of dynamic tariffs could make or break the EU's smart grid investment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 6222-6231, October.
    4. Lucas W. Davis, 2011. "Evaluating the Slow Adoption of Energy Efficient Investments: Are Renters Less Likely to Have Energy Efficient Appliances?," NBER Chapters, in: The Design and Implementation of US Climate Policy, pages 301-316, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. 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.
    6. Elizabeth Shove, 2010. "Beyond the ABC: Climate Change Policy and Theories of Social Change," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(6), pages 1273-1285, June.
    7. Cayla, Jean-Michel & Maizi, Nadia & Marchand, Christophe, 2011. "The role of income in energy consumption behaviour: Evidence from French households data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7874-7883.
    8. Peter Heindl, 2015. "Measuring Fuel Poverty: General Considerations and Application to German Household Data," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 71(2), pages 178-215, June.
    9. 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.
    10. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Dworkin, Michael H., 2015. "Energy justice: Conceptual insights and practical applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 435-444.
    11. Strengers, Yolande, 2012. "Peak electricity demand and social practice theories: Reframing the role of change agents in the energy sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 226-234.
    12. Faruqui, Ahmad & Sergici, Sanem & Sharif, Ahmed, 2010. "The impact of informational feedback on energy consumption—A survey of the experimental evidence," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 1598-1608.
    13. 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.
    14. Xu, Xiaojing & Chen, Chien-fei & Zhu, Xiaojuan & Hu, Qinran, 2018. "Promoting acceptance of direct load control programs in the United States: Financial incentive versus control option," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 1278-1287.
    15. Al-Sanea, Sami A. & Zedan, M.F., 2008. "Optimized monthly-fixed thermostat-setting scheme for maximum energy-savings and thermal comfort in air-conditioned spaces," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(5), pages 326-346, May.
    16. Ritchie, J R Brent & McDougall, Gordon H G & Claxton, John D, 1981. "Complexities of Household Energy Consumption and Conservation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 8(3), pages 233-242, December.
    17. Kenneth Gillingham, Matthew Harding, and David Rapson, 2012. "Split Incentives in Residential Energy Consumption," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    18. Langevin, Jared & Gurian, Patrick L. & Wen, Jin, 2013. "Reducing energy consumption in low income public housing: Interviewing residents about energy behaviors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 1358-1370.
    19. Van Raaij, W. Fred & Verhallen, Theo M. M., 1983. "A behavioral model of residential energy use," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 39-63.
    20. Im, Jongho & Seo, Youngme & Cetin, Kristen S. & Singh, Jasmeet, 2017. "Energy efficiency in U.S. residential rental housing: Adoption rates and impact on rent," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 1021-1033.
    21. Jenkins, Kirsten & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & McCauley, Darren, 2018. "Humanizing sociotechnical transitions through energy justice: An ethical framework for global transformative change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 66-74.
    22. Ahmad Faruqui & Sanem Sergici, 2010. "Household response to dynamic pricing of electricity: a survey of 15 experiments," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 193-225, October.
    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. Fátima Lima & Paula Ferreira & Vítor Leal, 2020. "A Review of the Relation between Household Indoor Temperature and Health Outcomes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-24, June.
    2. Kang, Jijun & Yu, Chenyang & Xue, Rui & Yang, Dong & Shan, Yuli, 2022. "Can regional integration narrow city-level energy efficiency gap in China?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    3. Shi, Xinjie & Cui, Liu & Huang, Zuhui & Zeng, Pei & Qiu, Tongwei & Fu, Linlin & Jiang, Qiang, 2023. "Impact of internal migration on household energy poverty: Empirical evidence from rural China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    4. 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).
    5. Lo Piano, S. & Smith, S.T., 2022. "Energy demand and its temporal flexibility: Approaches, criticalities and ways forward," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    6. Chen, Chien-fei & Nelson, Hannah & Xu, Xiaojing & Bonilla, Gregory & Jones, Nicholas, 2021. "Beyond technology adoption: Examining home energy management systems, energy burdens and climate change perceptions during COVID-19 pandemic," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    7. Elena Smirnova & Katarzyna Szczepańska-Woszczyna & Saltanat Yessetova & Vadim Samusenkov & Rodion Rogulin, 2021. "Supplying Energy to Vulnerable Segments of the Population: Macro-Financial Risks and Public Welfare," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-18, March.
    8. 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).
    9. Heleno, Miguel & Sigrin, Benjamin & Popovich, Natalie & Heeter, Jenny & Jain Figueroa, Anjuli & Reiner, Michael & Reames, Tony, 2022. "Optimizing equity in energy policy interventions: A quantitative decision-support framework for energy justice," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    10. Luiz de Mello, 2023. "Real Estate in a Post-Pandemic World: How Can Policies Make Housing More Enviromentally Sustainable and Affordable?," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 244(1), pages 111-139, March.
    11. Steven Beattie & Wai-Kin (Victor) Chan & Zixuan Wei & Zhibin Zhu, 2022. "Simulation Analysis of a Double Auction-Based Local Energy Market in Socio-Economic Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-25, June.
    12. Chris Foulds & Sarah Royston & Thomas Berker & Efi Nakopoulou & Zareen Pervez Bharucha & Rosie Robison & Simone Abram & Branko Ančić & Stathis Arapostathis & Gabriel Badescu & Richard Bull & Jed Cohen, 2022. "An agenda for future Social Sciences and Humanities research on energy efficiency: 100 priority research questions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.
    13. 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).
    14. Theofano Fotiou & Pantelis Capros & Panagiotis Fragkos, 2022. "Policy Modelling for Ambitious Energy Efficiency Investment in the EU Residential Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-29, March.
    15. Richard S. J. Tol, 2023. "Navigating the energy trilemma during geopolitical and environmental crises," Papers 2301.07671, arXiv.org.
    16. Mrówczyńska, Maria & Skiba, Marta & Bazan-Krzywoszańska, Anna & Sztubecka, Małgorzata, 2020. "Household standards and socio-economic aspects as a factor determining energy consumption in the city," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    17. Brown, Marilyn A. & Chapman, Oliver, 2021. "The size, causes, and equity implications of the demand-response gap," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    18. Feenstra, Mariëlle & Özerol, Gül, 2021. "Energy justice as a search light for gender-energy nexus: Towards a conceptual framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    19. Xiao Han & Chu Wei, 2021. "Household energy consumption: state of the art, research gaps, and future prospects," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 12479-12504, August.
    20. Sun, Yunpeng & Wang, Jin & Wang, Xiuhui & Wei, Xinyu, 2023. "Achieving energy justice and common prosperity through green energy resources," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    21. 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).

    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. 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).
    2. Oseni, Musiliu O., 2015. "Assessing the consumers’ willingness to adopt a prepayment metering system in Nigeria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 154-165.
    3. Stefan Bouzarovski & Saska Petrova & Sergio Tirado-Herrero, 2014. "From Fuel Poverty to Energy Vulnerability: The Importance of Services, Needs and Practices," SPRU Working Paper Series 2014-25, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    4. Jing Liang & Yueming Qiu & Bo Xing, 2021. "Social Versus Private Benefits of Energy Efficiency Under Time-of-Use and Increasing Block Pricing," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(1), pages 43-75, January.
    5. Lopes, Marta A.R. & Henggeler Antunes, Carlos & Janda, Kathryn B. & Peixoto, Paulo & Martins, Nelson, 2016. "The potential of energy behaviours in a smart(er) grid: Policy implications from a Portuguese exploratory study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 233-245.
    6. Petrov, Ivan & Ryan, Lisa, 2021. "The landlord-tenant problem and energy efficiency in the residential rental market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    7. Charlier, Dorothée, 2015. "Energy efficiency investments in the context of split incentives among French households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 465-479.
    8. Sylwia Słupik & Joanna Kos-Łabędowicz & Joanna Trzęsiok, 2021. "Energy-Related Behaviour of Consumers from the Silesia Province (Poland)—Towards a Low-Carbon Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-23, April.
    9. Clastres, Cédric & Khalfallah, Haikel, 2021. "Dynamic pricing efficiency with strategic retailers and consumers: An analytical analysis of short-term market interactions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    10. Cédric Clastres, 2011. "Smart grids : Another step towards competition, energy security and climate change objectives," Post-Print halshs-00617702, HAL.
    11. Igawa, Moegi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2022. "Energy poverty and income inequality: An economic analysis of 37 countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    12. Feenstra, Mariëlle & Özerol, Gül, 2021. "Energy justice as a search light for gender-energy nexus: Towards a conceptual framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    13. 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.
    14. Laura Abrardi, 2019. "Behavioral barriers and the energy efficiency gap: a survey of the literature," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(1), pages 25-43, March.
    15. Liu, Nan & Zhao, Yuan & Ge, Jiaqi, 2018. "Do renters skimp on energy efficiency during economic recessions? Evidence from Northeast Scotland," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PA), pages 164-175.
    16. Hu, Zheng & Kim, Jin-ho & Wang, Jianhui & Byrne, John, 2015. "Review of dynamic pricing programs in the U.S. and Europe: Status quo and policy recommendations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 743-751.
    17. Linn, Joshua & Liang, Jing & Qiu, Yueming, 2022. "Rising US Income Inequality and Declining Residential Electricity Consumption: Is There a Link?," RFF Working Paper Series 22-09, Resources for the Future.
    18. 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.
    19. Jessica K. Breadsell & Christine Eon & Gregory M. Morrison, 2019. "Understanding Resource Consumption in the Home, Community and Society through Behaviour and Social Practice Theories," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-18, November.
    20. Vassileva, Iana & Campillo, Javier, 2014. "Increasing energy efficiency in low-income households through targeting awareness and behavioral change," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 59-63.

    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:enepol:v:128:y:2019:i:c:p:763-774. 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/locate/enpol .

    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.