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This paper documents a shift in energy consumption toward residential usage during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Focusing on electricity, I find a 7.9% increase in residential consumption, and a 6.9% and 8.0% reduction in commercial and industrial usage, respectively, from a monthly panel of electric utilities. Natural gas consumption also shifted toward residential use, so that aggregate electricity and gas expenditure only fell by 1% on net during a period in which GDP fell by 5%. Hourly smart meter data from Texas reveal how daily routines changed during the pandemic, with residential electricity usage during weekdays closely resembling those of weekends. In total, residential energy expenditures were an estimated $13B higher during Q2-Q4 2020, with the largest increases occurring in areas with a greater propensity to work from home. I find that transportation fuel consumption declined about 16%, so that total energy consumption in the U.S. economy fell by 8%.
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The weather affects air conditioner purchases to fill the energy efficiency gap
Abstract Energy efficiency improvement is often hindered by the energy efficiency gap. This paper examines the effect of short-run temperature fluctuations on the Energy Star air conditioner purchases in the United States from 2006 to 2019 using transaction-level data. Results show that the probability of purchasing an Energy Star air conditioner increases as the weekly temperature before the transaction deviates from 20–22 °C. A larger response is related to fewer cooling degree days in the previous years, higher electricity prices/income/educational levels/age/rate of owners, more common use of electricity, and stronger concern about climate change. 1 °C increase and decrease from 21 °C would lead to a reduction of total energy expenditure by 35.46 and 17.73 million dollars nationwide (0.13% and 0.06% of the annual total energy expenditure on air conditioning), respectively. Our findings have important policy implications for demand-end interventions to incorporate the potential impact of the ambient physical environment.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1757329
- PAR ID:
- 10410344
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33531-2
