ABSTRACT

This paper examines the marginal welfare gain of adopting higher energy efficiency after another efficiency measure has already been installed. For example, how does installing stringent thermal insulation influence energy efficiency investment decisions thereafter? A mathematical model that embeds a welfare-maximizing household in a building energy model is employed. Four archetypical households across Saudi Arabia and two electricity pricing schemes are chosen for this illustration. The households exhibit diverse socioeconomic attributes and live in regions with varying physical characteristics. Key findings include: Investing in more stringent thermal insulation after already installing more efficient air conditioners reduce welfare, but not necessarily vice versa. Under both electricity pricing schemes, welfare is lowered when households reduce infiltration after installing more stringent thermal insulation. Comparatively, welfare gains are made for all other preexisting efficiency cases. In western Saudi Arabia, variability in welfare between marginal investment decisions are low relative to those in other regions.

摘要

本文研究了在安装了另一种效率措施之后采用更高的能源效率所带来的边际福利收益。例如，安装严格的保温材料如何影响其后的能效投资决策？使用将福利最大化的家庭嵌入到建筑能源模型中的数学模型。此插图选择了沙特阿拉伯的四个原型家庭和两个电价计划。这些家庭表现出不同的社会经济属性，居住在具有不同自然特征的地区。主要发现包括：在已经安装了更高效的空调之后投资更严格的隔热措施会降低福利，但反之则不一定。在两种电价计划下，如果家庭在安装更严格的隔热材料后减少渗透，则会降低福利。相对而言，所有其他先前存在的效率案例都可以带来福利收益。在沙特阿拉伯西部，边际投资决策之间的福利差异相对于其他地区而言较低。