Join CGS on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, at 12:00 PM to hear University of Maryland Ph.D. student Xiaofeng Ye discuss his study on how adopting these technologies can alleviate energy insecurity, thereby contributing to policy discussions about clean energy technology incentives at all levels of government.
Abstract: Adopting clean energy technologies offers households a viable solution to overcome energy insecurity. Prompted by the urgent challenge of climate change and government commitments to climate goals, policymakers have been exploring various policies and incentives to encourage the uptake of sustainable energy solutions, such as heat pumps and rooftop solar panels. This study examines the role of adopting these technologies in mitigating energy insecurity, utilizing a dataset of hourly records from 8,656 household electricity meters in Phoenix, Arizona. We hypothesize that heat pumps can alleviate energy insecurity by reducing household energy expenses and increasing the utilization of energy services. We first employed a thermal comfort index to examine a household’s energy consumption limiting behavior by applying a piecewise linear temperature-electricity response function. Subsequently, a panel regression model with random household-level effects was employed to evaluate the impact of heat pumps and rooftop solar installations on mitigating energy insecurity. We find that households equipped with heat pumps initiate cooling at ambient temperatures 0.996 Celsius degrees lower than those lacking heat pumps, indicating that heat pump installations may encourage users to activate their cooling systems sooner to achieve greater indoor comfort. Furthermore, for every one-degree rise in temperature, homes with heat pumps use 0.476 kWh less electricity per day in comparison to those utilizing conventional cooling systems. We also looked at disparities as to the heat pump adoption effects between high and low-income groups and among different ethnicities. Heat pump installation leads to a lower energy equity gap across income groups, resulting in more similar and comfortable cooling start temperatures. This study demonstrates the feasibility of reducing energy insecurity through the adoption of clean technologies. Given the clear benefits in terms of energy savings and earlier cooling initiation, this study contributes to the discourse on policymaking at federal, state, and local levels, particularly regarding policies aimed at incentivizing the adoption of clean energy technologies as well as alleviating energy insecurity.