Effects of the Hood River Conservation Project on electricity use

Abstract

This paper summarizes the methods and results related to actual electricity use and savings produced by the Hood River Conservation Project (HRCP). Our approach analyzes monthly billing data to estimate weather-adjusted (normalized) annual electricity use. These normalized estimates are then used in pooled time-series/cross-section models to examine the effects of demographic, structure, and economic factors on household electricity use. Electricity use was cut by an average of 2600 kWh/year (14% of pre-HRCP consumption) between 1982/83 (pre-HRCP) and 1985/86 (post-HRCP) for the homes retrofit by the Project. These savings — which varied substantially across house type, house age, and household use of wood for heating — were less than half the savings estimated during the initial energy audits. Roughly one-fifth of the electricity savings associated with the HRCP measures were lost through the “takeback” effect associated with higher indoor temperatures and reduced use of wood for heating. The primary reason for small electricity savings was the low levels of pre-HRCP electricity used. Even before the Project began, households had adopted many conservation actions (especially use of wood for space heating), stimulated by the 40% increase in real electricity prices between 1980 and 1982. The combination of low pre-HRCP electricity use and modest savings led to post-HRCP levels of space-heating electricity use that were very low: below the levels in typical new homes constructed during the early 1980s and those achieved in other retrofit programs throughout the U.S.