The weather affects air conditioner purchases to fill the energy efficiency gap

Pan He, Pengfei Liu, Yueming (Lucy) Qiu () and Lufan Liu
Additional contact information
Pan He: Cardiff University
Yueming (Lucy) Qiu: University of Maryland College Park
Lufan Liu: University of Rhode Island

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-33531-2

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33531-2

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