Indoor temperature changes after retrofit: inferences based on electricity billing data for nonparticipants and participants in the BPA Residential Weatherization Program

Abstract

This report discusses changes in indoor temperatures in response to retrofit improvements. The data on which this analysis is based are from an evaluation of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) interim Residential Weatherization Program. The BPA program, operated through participating private and public utilities throughout the Pacific Northwest, offered financial assistance (generally a cash rebate) to encourage installation of energy-efficiency improvements to existing homes in the region. These retrofits included attic, wall, floor and heating duct insulation; storm windows and doors; clock thermostats; and caulking and weatherstripping. This program, which operated during 1982 and 1983, weatherized 104 thousand homes at a total cost to BPA of $157 million. In mid-1983, staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Evaluation Research Corporation began an evaluation of the BPA program. The primary focus of this evaluation was assessment of the actual electricity saving that can be attributed to the program (Hirst, et al., 1985). These savings estimates were used to help assess the economic attractiveness of the program to participants, the BPA power system, and the Pacific Northwest region as a whole.