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Household benefits from energy efficiency retrofits: Implications for net zero housing policy

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  • Papineau, Maya
  • Rivers, Nicholas
  • Yassin, Kareman

Abstract

Maintaining household welfare in the transition to a net zero economy is critical to the public acceptance of climate policy. A challenge in meeting this goal is our incomplete understanding of the distribution of household-level benefits from policies designed to reduce greenhouse gases in residential buildings. We provide new insights on key variables that contribute to household and social welfare by quantifying both the level and distribution of energy savings, bill savings, and rebates disbursed from Canada’s national energy efficiency retrofit program. Using a unique dataset consisting of electricity and natural gas consumption from all single-family houses in a Canadian city, we find that adopted retrofits reduce natural gas consumption for up to 10 years in the average participating house by about 20%. Whole-envelope retrofits reduce natural gas consumption by 35%. However, these savings represent only about half of pre-retrofit predicted savings, and several recommended retrofits save zero energy. While energy bill savings exhibit a modest peak among some lower wealth properties, retrofit rebates were disbursed equally across the house wealth distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Papineau, Maya & Rivers, Nicholas & Yassin, Kareman, 2025. "Household benefits from energy efficiency retrofits: Implications for net zero housing policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:143:y:2025:i:c:s0140988325000684
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2025.108245
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy efficiency; Deep retrofit; EnerGuide for houses; Distributional effects; Building simulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • Q28 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy
    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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