Race, ethnicity, and the distribution of energy efficiency incentives

Abstract

This paper examines the distribution of energy efficiency incentives by race and ethnicity among residential American households based on data from the Residential Energy Consumption Survey. Across a variety of types of incentives, non-Hispanic White households are the mostly likely to have received an incentive relative to American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian; Black or African American; Hispanic White; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; or multi-racial households. I compute concentration indices to compare the degree of inequality by type of incentive. Tax credits, utility rebates, and subsidies for home energy audits have similar levels of inequality by race and ethnicity. Subsidies for efficient light bulbs have a more equal rate of uptake. The driving mechanism for these disparities appears to be that non-Hispanic White households are more likely to be homeowners, as the differences in uptake disappear in models that control for homeowner/renter status.