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The effectiveness of US energy efficiency building labels

Author

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  • Omar Isaac Asensio

    (Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Public Policy
    UCLA Institute of the Environment & Sustainability and Anderson School of Management Ziman Center for Real Estate, La Kretz Hall, Suite 300)

  • Magali A. Delmas

    (UCLA Institute of the Environment & Sustainability and Anderson School of Management, La Kretz Hall, Suite 300)

Abstract

Information programs are promising strategies to encourage investments in energy efficiency in commercial buildings. However, the realized effectiveness of these programs has not yet been estimated on a large scale. Here we take advantage of a large sample of monthly electricity consumption data for 178,777 commercial buildings in Los Angeles to analyse energy savings and emissions reductions from three major programs designed to encourage efficiency: the US Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program and the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. Using matching techniques, we find energy savings that range from 18% to 30%, depending on the program. These savings represent a reduction of 210 million kilowatt-hours or 145 kilotons of CO2 equivalent emissions per year. However, we also find that these programs do not substantially reduce emissions in small and medium sized buildings, which represent about two-thirds of commercial sector building emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Omar Isaac Asensio & Magali A. Delmas, 2017. "The effectiveness of US energy efficiency building labels," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 1-9, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:2:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1038_nenergy.2017.33
    DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2017.33
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    Cited by:

    1. Petrov, Ivan & Ryan, Lisa, 2021. "The landlord-tenant problem and energy efficiency in the residential rental market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    2. Liu, Jiangyan & Wang, Jiangyu & Li, Guannan & Chen, Huanxin & Shen, Limei & Xing, Lu, 2017. "Evaluation of the energy performance of variable refrigerant flow systems using dynamic energy benchmarks based on data mining techniques," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 522-539.
    3. Xiaoyue Zhu & Bo Gao & Xudong Yang & Zhong Yu & Ji Ni, 2021. "Modifying Building Energy-Saving Design Based on Field Research into Climate Features and Local Residents’ Habits," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-19, January.
    4. Christopher J. Blackburn & Mallory E. Flowers & Daniel C. Matisoff & Juan Moreno‐Cruz, 2020. "Do Pilot and Demonstration Projects Work? Evidence from a Green Building Program," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1100-1132, September.
    5. Yu, Biying & Yang, Xiaojuan & Zhao, Qingyu & Tan, Jinxiao, 2020. "Causal Effect of Time-Use Behavior on Residential Energy Consumption in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    6. Vidya Mani & Suresh Muthulingam, 2019. "Does Learning from Inspections Affect Environmental Performance? Evidence from Unconventional Well Development in Pennsylvania," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 177-197, January.
    7. Lai, Yuan & Papadopoulos, Sokratis & Fuerst, Franz & Pivo, Gary & Sagi, Jacob & Kontokosta, Constantine E., 2022. "Building retrofit hurdle rates and risk aversion in energy efficiency investments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    8. Sumin Kim & Benson Teck Heng Lim & Bee Lan Oo, 2022. "Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions of Mandatory Green Certified Offices in Australia: Evidence and Lessons Learnt across 2011–2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-18, October.
    9. Omar Isaac Asensio & Olga Churkina & Becky D. Rafter & Kira E. O’Hare, 2024. "Housing policies and energy efficiency spillovers in low and moderate income communities," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 7(5), pages 590-601, May.
    10. Arthur Santos & Gerald Duggan & Stephen Frank & Daniel Gerber & Daniel Zimmerle, 2021. "Endpoint Use Efficiency Comparison for AC and DC Power Distribution in Commercial Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-24, September.
    11. Maryam Keyhani & Atefeh Abbaspour & Ali Bahadori-Jahromi & Anastasia Mylona & Alan Janbey & Paulina Godfrey & Hexin Zhang, 2023. "Whole Life Carbon Assessment of a Typical UK Residential Building Using Different Embodied Carbon Data Sources," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.
    12. Pan, Yue & Zhang, Limao, 2020. "Data-driven estimation of building energy consumption with multi-source heterogeneous data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    13. Wu, Wentao & Zhang, Wei & Benner, Jingru & Malkawi, Ali, 2020. "Critical evaluation of analytical methods for thermally activated building systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    14. Hong, Bing-Hua & Huang, Xiao-Yan & He, Jian-Wei & Cai, Yang & Wang, Wei-Wei & Zhao, Fu-Yun, 2023. "Round-the-clock performance of solar thermoelectric wall with phase change material in subtropical climate: Critical analysis and parametric investigations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    15. Wang, Xia & Feng, Wei & Cai, Weiguang & Ren, Hong & Ding, Chao & Zhou, Nan, 2019. "Do residential building energy efficiency standards reduce energy consumption in China? – A data-driven method to validate the actual performance of building energy efficiency standards," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 82-98.
    16. Mohammad Ostadi & Kristofer Gunnar Paso & Sandra Rodriguez-Fabia & Lars Erik Øi & Flavio Manenti & Magne Hillestad, 2020. "Process Integration of Green Hydrogen: Decarbonization of Chemical Industries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-16, September.
    17. Liu, Jiangyan & Chen, Huanxin & Liu, Jiahui & Li, Zhengfei & Huang, Ronggeng & Xing, Lu & Wang, Jiangyu & Li, Guannan, 2017. "An energy performance evaluation methodology for individual office building with dynamic energy benchmarks using limited information," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 193-205.
    18. Schleich, Joachim & Fleiter, Tobias, 2019. "Effectiveness of energy audits in small business organizations," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 59-70.
    19. Nicolas Schmid & Leonore Haelg & Sebastian Sewerin & Tobias S. Schmidt & Irina Simmen, 2021. "Governing complex societal problems: The impact of private on public regulation through technological change," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 840-855, July.
    20. Mallory Elise Flowers & Daniel C. Matisoff & Douglas S. Noonan, 2020. "In the LEED: Racing to the Top in Environmental Self‐Regulation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2842-2856, September.

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