Quantifying the Effect of the Principal-Agent Problem on USResidential Energy Use

Murtishaw, Scott ; Sathaye, Jayant

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

关键词: Energy Consumption;    32;    Refrigeration;    29;    Residential Sector;   

DOI  :  10.2172/913156
RP-ID  :  LBNL--59773
RP-ID  :  DE-AC02-05CH11231
RP-ID  :  913156

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The International Energy Agency (IEA) initiated andcoordinated this project to investigate the effects of market failures inthe end-use of energy that may isolate some markets or portions thereoffrom energy price signals in five member countries. Quantifying theamount of energy associated with market failures helps to demonstrate thesignificance of energy efficiency policies beyond price signals. In thisreport we investigate the magnitude of the principal-agent (PA) problemaffecting four of the major energy end uses in the U.S. residentialsector: refrigeration, water heating, space heating, and lighting. Usingdata from the American Housing Survey, we develop a novel approach toclassifying households into a PA matrix for each end use. End use energyvalues differentiated by housing unit type from the Residential EnergyConsumption Survey were used to estimate the final and primary energy useassociated with the PA problem. We find that the 2003 associated siteenergy use from these four end uses totaled over 3,400 trillion Btu,equal to 35 percent of the site energy consumed by the residentialsector.