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Annual Review of Resource Economics

Volume 14, 2022

A Systematic Review of Energy Efficiency Home Retrofit Evaluation Studies

Abstract

We systematically review studies evaluating the energy savings and cost-effectiveness of residential energy efficiency retrofit programs. We review 39 evaluations of 23 residential retrofit programs that were evaluated between 1984 and 2021. Our sample is restricted to program evaluations that used postretrofit household energy billing or consumption data from 140,977 retrofitted households. We report four primary findings. First, none of the studies in our sample reported deep energy savings (e.g., 50% or greater) from retrofit programs. The mean reduction in measured electricity and/or fuel consumption due to energy efficiency retrofits for all programs included in our sample was roughly 7.2%. However, because many households use both fuel and electricity, total household energy savings from the retrofit programs evaluated in our sample are probably smaller. Second, reported program savings decreased as the internal validity of study design increased. Third, as measured by realized savings and cost-effectiveness, the most promising retrofits were insulation and programmable thermostats, whereas the least promising retrofits were storm windows and doors. Fourth, programs with high reported savings and low costs of conserved energy served low-income, fuel-heated households exclusively.

Keyword(s): energy efficiency, JEL H43, JEL H54, JEL Q48, JEL Q54, program evaluation, residential energy consumption, retrofit programs, systematic review
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/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-124353
2022-10-05
2024-04-25
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/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-124353
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A Systematic Review of Energy Efficiency Home Retrofit Evaluation Studies
Annual Review of Resource Economics 14, 689 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-124353
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-124353
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-124353
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  • Article Type: Review Article

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