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The impact of mandatory energy audits on building energy use

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  • Constantine E. Kontokosta

    (Marron Institute of Urban Management and Center for Urban Science & Progress, New York University)

  • Danielle Spiegel-Feld

    (Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law, NYU School of Law)

  • Sokratis Papadopoulos

    (New York University)

Abstract

Cities are increasingly adopting energy policies that reduce information asymmetries and knowledge gaps through data transparency, including energy disclosure and mandatory audit requirements for existing buildings. Although such audits impose non-trivial costs on building owners, their energy use impacts have not been empirically evaluated. Here we examine the effect of a large-scale mandatory audit policy—New York City’s Local Law 87—on building energy use, using detailed audit and energy data between 2011 and 2016 for approximately 4,000 buildings. This specific policy context, in which the compliance year is randomly assigned, provides a unique opportunity to explore the audit effect without the self-selection bias found in studies of voluntary audit policies. We find energy use reductions of approximately –2.5% for multifamily residential buildings and –4.9% for office buildings. The results suggest that mandatory audits, by themselves, create an insufficient incentive to invest in energy efficiency at the scale needed to meet citywide carbon-reduction goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Constantine E. Kontokosta & Danielle Spiegel-Feld & Sokratis Papadopoulos, 2020. "The impact of mandatory energy audits on building energy use," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 309-316, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:5:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1038_s41560-020-0589-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-020-0589-6
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sylvain Zeghni & Nathalie Fabry, 2023. "Nachhaltige Information und die Dekarbonisierungsstrategie der europäischen Städte [Sustainable information and decarbonization strategy for European cities]," Post-Print hal-04284996, HAL.
    2. Salimifard, Parichehr & Buonocore, Jonathan J. & Konschnik, Kate & Azimi, Parham & VanRy, Marissa & Cedeno Laurent, Jose Guillermo & Hernández, Diana & Allen, Joseph G., 2022. "Climate policy impacts on building energy use, emissions, and health: New York City local law 97," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PC).
    3. Liu, Ying & Feng, Chao, 2023. "Promoting renewable energy through national energy legislation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    4. 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).
    5. Arjunan, Pandarasamy & Poolla, Kameshwar & Miller, Clayton, 2020. "EnergyStar++: Towards more accurate and explanatory building energy benchmarking," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    6. Liu, Junxian & Nie, Song & Lin, Tiantian, 2024. "Government auditing and urban energy efficiency in the context of the digital economy: Evidence from China's Auditing System reform," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    7. Walter, Travis & Mathew, Paul, 2022. "City-level impacts of building tune-ups: Findings from Seattle's building tune-ups program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    8. Pennell, Grace & Newman, Sarah & Tarekegne, Bethel & Boff, Daniel & Fowler, Richard & Gonzalez, Juan, 2022. "A comparison of building system parameters between affordable and market-rate housing in New York City," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).

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