Effects of the Hood River Conservation Project on electricity use and savings in single-family homes

Abstract

The Hood River Conservation Project, a major demonstration sponsored by the Bonneville Power Administration, sought to retrofit all the electrically heated homes in Hood River, Oregon. A two-stage approach was used to analyse electricity use and savings for programme participants and for homes in two comparison communities. The first stage converted each year of household monthly electricity billing data into an estimate of weather-adjusted annual electricity use. The second stage pooled these estimates across households and years to develop multivariate regression models of household electricity use. Electricity use before HRCP began (20000 kWh/year in 1982183) was far below planning estimates at the time. Measured reductions in electricity use among participants averaged 2900 kwh, much less than predicted during the energy audits. The combination of low pre-HRCP electricity use and modest savings led to very low levels of post-HRCP usage, below amounts experienced in typical new home construction. The p...