21 Percent: The Role of Socioeconomics and Housing Characteristics on CO2 Emissions from the U.S. Residential Sector

Abstract

Residential buildings generated 21% of the 2009 CO2 emissions in the United States. Using data from the 2005 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), this paper evaluates the effect of a set of socioeconomic attributes and housing unit characteristics on total, per-capita (Human Carbon Intensity), and per-square foot (Building Carbon Intensity) indices of the estimated CO2 emission production. Controlling for local climate, results from three hierarchical multiple regression models demonstrates that most of the socioeconomic and housing unit characteristics have significant associations with CO2 emission indices. With respect to the nature of association, coefficients’ behaviors across the three models, and policy implications, I characterized the outcomes in three categories: results that are rather intuitive, those who are either counter-intuitive or new-to-know, and outcomes that imply the existence of underlying complexities. Not being equipped with the appropriate tool set and knowledge, however, current regional development policies and planning practices rarely take the implications of climate change into consideration. With a direct and linear approach, traditional (standard) research accounts have often failed to distinguish between the direct and indirect effects of both households and buildings, leading to inefficient policies. This paper proposes that, in the resurgence of planning in a new century, where climate change is a major challenge, local and regional governments should incorporate impacts of households’ housing consumption behaviors in designation of metropolitan climate change and energy policies.