Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

 

Three Essays on Energy Efficiency Policy Public Deposited

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https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/0z708w48k
Abstract
  • This thesis is comprised of three essays which explore selected aspects of demand side energy efficiency policy of International Energy Conservation Codes (IECC). The first essay models the adoption of IECC in the U.S. between 1998 and 2010. An ordered probit model with IECC adoption as the dependent variable is used to test if a set of socio-economics, political, spatial, and environmental factors predict the residential building energy code adoption. The results show that higher energy price, relative political extraction, climate extremes, pollution level, and population growth predict IECC adoption in the sample. The diffusion variable (share of neighbor states with IECC) is shown to have large impacts on the probability of IECC adoption. The next two essays examine the effect of IECC on residential electricity consumption. The second essay investigates the impact of International Energy Conservation Codes (IECC) on per-capita residential electricity consumption for 44 U.S. states from 1981-2008. Applying the pooled mean group (PMG) model developed by Pesaran et al. (1999), and controlling for energy specific demand factors such as: prices, income, heating degree days, and cooling degree days, I find that there is an overall 2% decrease in new residential buildings per-capita electricity consumption in the states which adopted any version of IECC. The new residential buildings per-capita electricity consumption has decreased by about 2.5% and 5% in the states with IECC 2000 and IECC 2003 respectively. The third essay examines the impact of building energy code on the household electricity consumption in three states in U.S. To do so; I construct a pseudo panel using household level data from the American Community Survey (ACS) over the period 2005-2010. By constructing pseudo panel, we are able to track cohorts of relatively homogeneous individuals over time, and control for cohort unobserved heterogeneity that may bias the results of cross sectional estimates. The empirical analysis employs pseudo panel approach on pre- and post-code change comparisons method. I find that the increased stringency of energy code from IECC 2003 to IECC 2006 is associated with a 19% decrease in new house's electricity consumption.
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  • 2013
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  • 2019-11-16
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