IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v77y2015icp164-175.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What can we learn from high-frequency appliance-level energy metering? Results from a field experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Victor L.
  • Delmas, Magali A.
  • Kaiser, William J.
  • Locke, Stephen L.

Abstract

This study uses high-frequency appliance-level electricity consumption data for 124 apartments over 24 months to provide a better understanding of appliance-level electricity consumption behavior. We conduct our analysis in a standardized set of apartments with similar appliances, which allows us to identify behavioral differences in electricity use. The Results show that households' estimations of appliance-level consumption are inaccurate and that they overestimate lighting use by 75% and underestimate plug-load use by 29%. We find that similar households using the same major appliances exhibit substantial variation in appliance-level electricity consumption. For example, households in the 75th percentile of HVAC usage use over four times as much electricity as a user in the 25th percentile. Additionally, we show that behavior accounts for 25–58% of this variation. Lastly, we find that replacing the existing refrigerator with a more energy-efficient model leads to overall energy savings of approximately 11%. This is equivalent to results from behavioral interventions targeting all appliances but might not be as cost effective. Our findings have important implications for behavior-based energy conservation policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Victor L. & Delmas, Magali A. & Kaiser, William J. & Locke, Stephen L., 2015. "What can we learn from high-frequency appliance-level energy metering? Results from a field experiment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 164-175.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:77:y:2015:i:c:p:164-175
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2014.11.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421514006296
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.11.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carrie Armel, K. & Gupta, Abhay & Shrimali, Gireesh & Albert, Adrian, 2013. "Is disaggregation the holy grail of energy efficiency? The case of electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 213-234.
    2. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1082-1095, October.
    3. Bladh, Mats & Krantz, Helena, 2008. "Towards a bright future? Household use of electric light: A microlevel study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3521-3530, September.
    4. Kempton, Willett & Layne, Linda L., 1994. "The consumer's energy analysis environment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 857-866, October.
    5. Delmas, Magali A. & Lessem, Neil, 2014. "Saving power to conserve your reputation? The effectiveness of private versus public information," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 353-370.
    6. Ueno, Tsuyoshi & Sano, Fuminori & Saeki, Osamu & Tsuji, Kiichiro, 2006. "Effectiveness of an energy-consumption information system on energy savings in residential houses based on monitored data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 166-183, February.
    7. Delmas, Magali A. & Fischlein, Miriam & Asensio, Omar I., 2013. "Information strategies and energy conservation behavior: A meta-analysis of experimental studies from 1975 to 2012," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 729-739.
    8. Herter, Karen & McAuliffe, Patrick & Rosenfeld, Arthur, 2007. "An exploratory analysis of California residential customer response to critical peak pricing of electricity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 25-34.
    9. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1082-1095.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Karunathilake, Hirushie & Hewage, Kasun & Sadiq, Rehan, 2018. "Opportunities and challenges in energy demand reduction for Canadian residential sector: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2005-2016.
    2. Asensio, Omar Isaac & Delmas, Magali A., 2016. "The dynamics of behavior change: Evidence from energy conservation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 126(PA), pages 196-212.
    3. Batalla-Bejerano, Joan & Trujillo-Baute, Elisa & Villa-Arrieta, Manuel, 2020. "Smart meters and consumer behaviour: Insights from the empirical literature," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    4. Omar Alrawi & I. Safak Bayram & Sami G. Al-Ghamdi & Muammer Koc, 2019. "High-Resolution Household Load Profiling and Evaluation of Rooftop PV Systems in Selected Houses in Qatar," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-25, October.
    5. Weber, Sylvain & Puddu, Stefano & Pacheco, Diana, 2017. "Move it! How an electric contest motivates households to shift their load profile," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 255-270.
    6. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet, 2018. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to building energy savings," Policy Papers 2018.04, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    7. Chen, Victor L. & Delmas, Magali A. & Locke, Stephen L. & Singh, Amarjeet, 2017. "Information strategies for energy conservation: A field experiment in India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 215-227.
    8. Frondel, Manuel & Sommer, Stephan & Vance, Colin, 2019. "Heterogeneity in German Residential Electricity Consumption: A quantile regression approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 370-379.
    9. Lynham, John & Nitta, Kohei & Saijo, Tatsuyoshi & Tarui, Nori, 2016. "Why does real-time information reduce energy consumption?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 173-181.
    10. Giraudet, Louis-Gaëtan, 2020. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to energy savings in the building sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    11. Himeur, Yassine & Alsalemi, Abdullah & Bensaali, Faycal & Amira, Abbes, 2020. "Robust event-based non-intrusive appliance recognition using multi-scale wavelet packet tree and ensemble bagging tree," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    12. Farrow, Katherine & Grolleau, Gilles & Mzoughi, Naoufel, 2018. "Less is more in energy conservation and efficiency messaging," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 1-6.
    13. Bogard, Jonathan E. & Delmas, Magali A. & Goldstein, Noah J. & Vezich, I. Stephanie, 2020. "Target, distance, and valence: Unpacking the effects of normative feedback," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 161(S), pages 61-73.
    14. Liddle, Brantley & Loi, Tian Sheng Allan & Owen, Anthony D. & Tao, Jacqueline, 2020. "Evaluating consumption and cost savings from new air-conditioner purchases: The case of Singapore," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Khosrowpour, Ardalan & Jain, Rishee K. & Taylor, John E. & Peschiera, Gabriel & Chen, Jiayu & Gulbinas, Rimas, 2018. "A review of occupant energy feedback research: Opportunities for methodological fusion at the intersection of experimentation, analytics, surveys and simulation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 304-316.
    2. Matteo Fontana & Massimo Tavoni & Simone Vantini, 2019. "Functional Data Analysis of high-frequency load curves reveals drivers of residential electricity consumption," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Chatzigeorgiou, I.M. & Andreou, G.T., 2021. "A systematic review on feedback research for residential energy behavior change through mobile and web interfaces," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    4. Weber, Sylvain & Puddu, Stefano & Pacheco, Diana, 2017. "Move it! How an electric contest motivates households to shift their load profile," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 255-270.
    5. Lang, Corey & Okwelum, Edson, 2015. "The mitigating effect of strategic behavior on the net benefits of a direct load control program," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 141-148.
    6. Vesterberg, Mattias, 2017. "Power to the people: Electricity demand and household behavior," Umeå Economic Studies 942, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    7. Schultz, P. Wesley & Estrada, Mica & Schmitt, Joseph & Sokoloski, Rebecca & Silva-Send, Nilmini, 2015. "Using in-home displays to provide smart meter feedback about household electricity consumption: A randomized control trial comparing kilowatts, cost, and social norms," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 351-358.
    8. Chen, Victor L. & Delmas, Magali A. & Locke, Stephen L. & Singh, Amarjeet, 2017. "Information strategies for energy conservation: A field experiment in India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 215-227.
    9. Bogard, Jonathan E. & Delmas, Magali A. & Goldstein, Noah J. & Vezich, I. Stephanie, 2020. "Target, distance, and valence: Unpacking the effects of normative feedback," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 161(S), pages 61-73.
    10. Andor, Mark A. & Fels, Katja M., 2018. "Behavioral Economics and Energy Conservation – A Systematic Review of Non-price Interventions and Their Causal Effects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 178-210.
    11. Buckley, Penelope, 2020. "Prices, information and nudges for residential electricity conservation: A meta-analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    12. Vesterberg, Mattias, 2017. "Heterogeneity in price responsiveness of electricity: Contract choice and the role of media coverage," Umeå Economic Studies 940, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    13. Giraudet, Louis-Gaëtan, 2020. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to energy savings in the building sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    14. Asensio, Omar Isaac & Delmas, Magali A., 2016. "The dynamics of behavior change: Evidence from energy conservation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 126(PA), pages 196-212.
    15. Spandagos, Constantine & Baark, Erik & Ng, Tze Ling & Yarime, Masaru, 2021. "Social influence and economic intervention policies to save energy at home: Critical questions for the new decade and evidence from air-condition use," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    16. Gołębiowska, Bernadeta & Bartczak, Anna & Budziński, Wiktor, 2021. "Impact of social comparison on preferences for Demand Side Management in Poland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    17. Chongwilaikasaem, Sukampon & Ayaragarnchanakul, Eva, 2023. "Electricity saving behavior in student dorms: What message framing works?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    18. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet, 2018. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to building energy savings," Working Papers 2018.07, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    19. Akito Ozawa & Ryota Furusato & Yoshikuni Yoshida, 2017. "Tailor-Made Feedback to Reduce Residential Electricity Consumption: The Effect of Information on Household Lifestyle in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-23, March.
    20. Hailey Hayeon Joo & Jungmin Lee & Sangkon Park, 2018. "Every Drop Counts: A Water Conservation Experiment With Hotel Guests," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1788-1808, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:77:y:2015:i:c:p:164-175. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.