Are households living in green certified buildings consuming less energy? Evidence from Switzerland

Abstract

In this paper, we compare the total energy consumption of households living in green certified buildings with households living in conventional buildings based on the example of the Swiss Minergie label. For this purpose, we estimate an econometric total energy demand model using a panel data set comprised of around 1500 households observed over the years 2010–2015. The empirical analysis provides suggestive evidence that households living in green certified buildings save approximately 25% of total energy. The estimated energy savings are lower than predicted by engineering-based bottom-up models that are not considering energy consumption behavioral factors. Nevertheless, our result suggests that savings in energy use and associated emissions of greenhouse gases (and other pollutants) may benefit from energy policy measures such as public information campaigns or subsidies that promote the construction of green certified buildings. Furthermore, since policy scenarios are usually based on ex-ante energy reduction projections, it is important to consider that the energy savings predicted tend, at least for the building sector, to be higher than they actually are. This difference may therefore impact the scenarios and thus the energy policy measures to be implemented.