Modeling the potential effects of rooftop solar on household energy burden in the United States

Sydney P. Forrester (), Cristina Crespo Montañés, Eric O’Shaughnessy and Galen Barbose
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Sydney P. Forrester: 1 Cyclotron Road
Cristina Crespo Montañés: 1 Cyclotron Road
Eric O’Shaughnessy: 1 Cyclotron Road
Galen Barbose: 1 Cyclotron Road

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Policymakers at the federal and state level have begun to incorporate energy burden into equity goals and program evaluations, aiming to reduce energy burden below a high level of 6% for lower income households in the United States. Pairing an empirical household-level dataset spanning United States geographies together with modeled hourly energy demand curves, we show that rooftop solar reduces energy burden across a majority of adopters during our study period from a median of 3.3% to 2.6%. For low- and moderate-income adopters (at or below 80% and 120% of area median income, respectively), solar reduces median 2021 energy burden from 7.7% to 6.2%, and 4.1% to 3.3%, respectively. Importantly, solar reduces the rate of high or severe energy burden from 67% of all low-income households before adoption to 52% of households following adoption, and correspondingly from 21% to 13% for moderate-income households. Here, we show rooftop solar can support policy goals to reduce energy burden along with strategies such as weatherization and bill assistance.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48967-x

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