Quantifying the rebound effects of residential solar panel adoption

Yueming Qiu, Matthew Kahn and Bo Xing

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2019, vol. 96, issue C, 310-341

Abstract: Customers who adopt solar panels can reduce their energy bills and lower the effective average electricity prices they pay. When the price falls, a solar consumer might consume more electricity than before – a solar rebound effect. We provide the first empirical evidence of residential solar rebound effects in the U.S. We use household level hourly and daily electricity meter data as well as hourly solar panel electricity generation data from 277 solar homes and about 4000 non-solar homes from 2013 to 2017 in Phoenix Arizona. Using matching methods and a fixed effects panel regression approach, we find that when solar electricity generation increases by 1 kWh, solar homes increase their total electricity consumption by 0.18 kWh. This indicates that solar rebound effects are estimated at 18%. Building upon our theoretical framework, the increase in consumer surplus from solar panel adoption is estimated at $972/yr.

Keywords: Solar panel; Rebound effects; Residential electricity consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (35)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069618309203
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:jeeman:v:96:y:2019:i:c:p:310-341

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2019.06.003

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is currently edited by M.A. Cole, A. Lange, D.J. Phaneuf, D. Popp, M.J. Roberts, M.D. Smith, C. Timmins, Q. Weninger and A.J. Yates

More articles in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().