Extreme temperatures and residential electricity consumption: Evidence from Chinese households

Shaohui Zhang, Qinxin Guo, Russell Smyth and Yao Yao

Energy Economics, 2022, vol. 107, issue C

Abstract: We estimate the causal effect of extreme temperatures on household electricity consumption using the China Residential Energy Consumption Survey (CRECS), which contains validated data on electricity consumption from respondents' electricity bills. We find that for each additional day in which the mean temperature exceeds 32 °C, relative to a day in which temperature is in the range 10 °C–16 °C, there is an 8.9% increase in annual electricity consumption. Exploiting rich information on the use of major home appliances which is available in CRECS, we demonstrate that this large effect is due to households using air conditioners more, at both the extensive and intensive margins, to cope with heat stress. Combining our baseline estimates with daily temperature projections from eight recent climate models, we simulate changes in future electricity consumption due to global warming. We find that residential electricity consumption would increase by 9.59–30.09% in the medium term and by 9.77–47.70% in the long term, depending on whether measures are taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Keywords: Extreme temperatures; Residential electricity consumption; Climate change; Adaptive behaviours; Future predictions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 Q40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:107:y:2022:i:c:s014098832200072x

DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2022.105890

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