Quantification of (p)rebound effects in retrofit policies – Why does it matter?

Ray Galvin and Minna Sunikka-Blank

Energy, 2016, vol. 95, issue C, 415-424

Abstract: The ‘prebound effect’ characterises how average heating energy consumption in older homes is consistently lower than these buildings' calculated energy ratings, and helps explain why energy savings from thermal upgrades are often lower than anticipated. This paper explores the conceptual links between prebound and rebound effects and aims to quantify these behavioural effects. It applies the resulting mathematical model to empirical examples of actual and calculated energy consumption at scales of individual dwelling and national housing stock. These show that the rebound effect, as defined in econometrics literature, can only indicate proportionate reductions in energy consumption and can mask high levels of absolute consumption. The prebound effect, however, can identify under- and over-consumption regardless of rebound effects. A combination of high prebound effect and low income suggests fuel poverty, and the rebound effect here is less relevant regarding total energy consumption. Policymakers should identify housing with high prebound effects in order to eliminate fuel poverty, and be aware of inaccuracies in calculating payback time where economic viability of retrofits is mandated. Further research is needed to understand motivations and practices in households that have high prebound effects and to identify specific priority groups for thermal retrofit policy.

Keywords: Prebound effect; Rebound effect; Thermal retrofits; Energy policy; Fuel poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036054421501676X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:95:y:2016:i:c:p:415-424

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.12.034

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().