IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeeman/v121y2023ics0095069623000840.html

Does LEED certification save energy? Evidence from retrofitted federal buildings

Author

Listed:
  • Clay, Karen
  • Severnini, Edson
  • Sun, Xiaochen

Abstract

This paper examines the causal impact of LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification on energy consumption among federally owned buildings that were retrofitted over the period 1990–2019. Using a difference-in-differences propensity score matching approach, the paper has two findings. First, despite energy savings being an explicit federal goal, LEED-certified retrofits of federal buildings did not have statistically significant energy savings on average. Second, LEED buildings with higher energy scores had greater energy efficiency post-certification, and the improvements were economically meaningful. The absence of energy savings on average appears to be driven by three factors — trade-offs across energy and other areas in acquiring points for certification, possible changes in energy use after the official performance period for LEED certification ended, and improvements in the energy efficiency of all federal buildings.

Suggested Citation

  • Clay, Karen & Severnini, Edson & Sun, Xiaochen, 2023. "Does LEED certification save energy? Evidence from retrofitted federal buildings," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:121:y:2023:i:c:s0095069623000840
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2023.102866
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069623000840
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeem.2023.102866?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 look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erica Myers, 2019. "Are Home Buyers Inattentive? Evidence from Capitalization of Energy Costs," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 165-188, May.
    2. Alberto Abadie, 2020. "Statistical Nonsignificance in Empirical Economics," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 193-208, June.
    3. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    4. 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.
    5. Hunt Allcott & Michael Greenstone, 2012. "Is There an Energy Efficiency Gap?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 3-28, Winter.
    6. Qiu, Yueming & Kahn, Matthew E., 2019. "Impact of voluntary green certification on building energy performance," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 461-475.
    7. Kahn, Matthew E. & Kok, Nils & Quigley, John M., 2014. "Carbon emissions from the commercial building sector: The role of climate, quality, and incentives," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet & Sébastien Houde & Joseph Maher, 2018. "Moral Hazard and the Energy Efficiency Gap: Theory and Evidence," Working Papers hal-01420872, HAL.
    9. Marc Rysman & Timothy Simcoe & Yanfei Wang, 2020. "Differentiation Strategies in the Adoption of Environmental Standards: LEED from 2000 to 2014," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(9), pages 4173-4192, September.
    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. Stefano Clò & Tommaso Reggiani & Sabrina Ruberto, 2024. "Consumption Feedback and Water Saving: A Field Intervention Evaluation in the Metropolitan Area of Milan," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(9), pages 2259-2308, September.
    2. Pestel, Nico & Oswald, Andrew J., 2021. "Why Do Relatively Few Economists Work on Climate Change? A Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 14885, IZA Network @ LISER.
    3. Stefano Clo' & Gianluca Iannucci & Alessandro Tampieri, 2024. "Emission permits and firms' environmental responsibility," Working Papers - Economics wp2024_06.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.

    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. Lang, Ghislaine & Lanz, Bruno, 2022. "Climate policy without a price signal: Evidence on the implicit carbon price of energy efficiency in buildings," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    2. Giraudet, Louis-Gaëtan, 2020. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to energy savings in the building sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Omar Isaac Asensio & Olga Churkina & Becky D. Rafter & Kira E. O’Hare, 2024. "Housing policies and energy efficiency spillovers in low and moderate income communities," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 7(5), pages 590-601, May.
    4. Schaufele, Brandon, 2021. "Lessons from a utility-sponsored revenue neutral electricity conservation program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    5. Clay, Karen & Severnini, Edson & Sun, Xiaochen, 2021. "Does LEED Certification Save Energy? Evidence from Federal Buildings," IZA Discussion Papers 14211, IZA Network @ LISER.
    6. 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.
    7. Fischbacher, Urs & Schudy, Simeon & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2021. "Heterogeneous preferences and investments in energy saving measures," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. Clara, Nuno & Cocco, João F. & Naaraayanan, S. Lakshmi & Sharma, Varun, 2026. "Investments that make our homes greener: The role of regulation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    9. Eugenie Dugoua & Jacob Moscona, 2025. "The Economics of climate innovation: technology, climate policy, and the clean energy transition," CEP Discussion Papers dp2135, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    10. Singhal, Puja & Pahle, Michael & Kalkuhl, Matthias & Levesque, Antoine & Sommer, Stephan & Berneiser, Jessica, 2022. "Beyond good faith: Why evidence-based policy is necessary to decarbonize buildings cost-effectively in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    11. Blonz, Joshua, 2018. "The Welfare Costs of Misaligned Incentives: Energy Inefficiency and the Principal-Agent Problem," RFF Working Paper Series 18-28, Resources for the Future.
    12. Myers, Erica, 2020. "Asymmetric information in residential rental markets: Implications for the energy efficiency gap," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    13. Joshua Blonz, 2019. "The Welfare Costs of Misaligned Incentives: Energy Inefficiency and the Principal-Agent Problem," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2019-071, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    14. repec:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_629 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Yujie Xu & Vivian Loftness & Edson Severnini, 2021. "Using Machine Learning to Predict Retrofit Effects for a Commercial Building Portfolio," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-24, July.
    16. Erica Myers & Steven L. Puller & Jeremy D. West, 2019. "Effects of Mandatory Energy Efficiency Disclosure in Housing Markets," NBER Working Papers 26436, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet & Antoine Missemer, 2023. "The History of Energy Efficiency in Economics: Breakpoints and Regularities," Post-Print halshs-02301636, HAL.
    18. Eugenie Dugoua & Jacob Moscona, 2025. "The Economics of Climate Innovation: Technology, Climate Policy, and the Clean Energy Transition," CESifo Working Paper Series 12267, CESifo.
    19. Bishop, Kelly C. & Kiribrahim-Sarikaya, Ozgen, 2024. "Energy-efficient investments in housing," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    20. Giraudet, Louis-Gaëtan & Petronevich, Anna & Faucheux, Laurent, 2021. "Differentiated green loans," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    21. Erica Myers & Steven L. Puller & Jeremy West, 2022. "Mandatory Energy Efficiency Disclosure in Housing Markets," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 453-487, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects

    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:eee:jeeman:v:121:y:2023:i:c:s0095069623000840. 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/inca/622870 .

    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.