IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/een/ccepwp/2201.html

From natural gas to electric appliances: Energy use and emissions implications in Australian homes

Author

Listed:
  • Mara Hammerle

    (Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University)

  • Paul J. Burke

    (Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University)

Abstract

Does variation in household vulnerability influence the effects of switching to new energy efficient electrical appliances in the home? Using the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme (EEIS) as a case study, this paper examines impacts on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from replacing natural gas heaters and hot water systems with more energy-efficient electric alternatives. To do so we use quarterly billing data over 2015 2020 for a sample of residential customers of the ACT s largest energy retailer, ActewAGL. Based on fixed effects panel regressions, we find that the electric replacements led to large decreases in residential natural gas consumption and smaller increases in consumption of electricity from the grid in energy content terms. Reductions in natural gas use from switching to electric hot water heaters were particularly large for the more vulnerable households in the scheme. The emissions effects depend on the emissions factor applied for grid electricity and underline the key role that residential electrification can play in decarbonization efforts if electricity is from low-emission sources.

Suggested Citation

  • Mara Hammerle & Paul J. Burke, 2022. "From natural gas to electric appliances: Energy use and emissions implications in Australian homes," CCEP Working Papers 2201, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:een:ccepwp:2201
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstreams/e4201dba-43c0-4026-b504-409854a56a96/download
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Hammerle, Mara & Burke, Paul J., 2022. "Solar PV and energy poverty in Australia's residential sector," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 66(04), January.
    2. Vincent P. Roberdel & Ioulia V. Ossokina & Vladimir A. Karamychev & Theo A. Arentze, 2023. "Energy-efficient homes: effects on poverty, environment and comfort," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 23-082/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Sun, Xinlu & Mi, Zhifu & Zhang, Jin & Li, Jinkai, 2024. "Driving factors of carbon emissions from household energy combustion in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    4. Paul Simshauser, 2023. "The regulation of electricity transmission in Australia's national electricity market: user charges, investment and access," Working Papers EPRG2311, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    5. Simshauser, P. & Gilmore, J., 2025. "Policy Sequencing: On the Electrification of Gas Loads in Australia’s National Electricity Market," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2528, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    6. Paul Simshauser & Joel Gilmore, 2026. "Demand Shocks From the Gas Turbine Fleet in Australia's National Electricity Market," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 70(1), pages 3-21, January.
    7. Paul Simshauser & Joel Gilmore, 2025. "Policy sequencing: on the electrification of gas loads in Australia’s National Electricity Market," Working Papers EPRG2509, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • 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
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:een:ccepwp:2201. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: CCEP (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/asanuau.html .

    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.