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Does LEED Certification Save Energy? Evidence from Retrofitted Federal Buildings

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  • Karen Clay
  • Edson R. Severnini
  • Xiaochen Sun

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

  • Karen Clay & Edson R. Severnini & Xiaochen Sun, 2021. "Does LEED Certification Save Energy? Evidence from Retrofitted Federal Buildings," NBER Working Papers 28612, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28612
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alberto Abadie, 2020. "Statistical Nonsignificance in Empirical Economics," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 193-208, June.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Qiu, Yueming & Kahn, Matthew E., 2019. "Impact of voluntary green certification on building energy performance," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 461-475.
    5. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet & Sébastien Houde & Joseph Maher, 2018. "Moral Hazard and the Energy Efficiency Gap: Theory and Evidence," Working Papers hal-01420872, HAL.
    6. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Pestel, Nico & Oswald, Andrew J., 2021. "Why Do Relatively Few Economists Work on Climate Change? A Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 14885, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    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.

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    More about this item

    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

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