Role of household energy efficiency in shaping policy directives toward clean electricity transition in the United States: A nonparametric multivariate QQR approach

Abstract

Despite the growing interest in energy transition policies, electricity generation in the U.S. remains heavily dependent on natural gas and coal. In this paper, we investigate the role of household energy efficiency in shaping policy directives toward a clean electricity transition in the U.S. through the use of a novel nonparametric multivariate quantile on quantile regression (M−QQR) over the period 1970 to 2040. The empirical results reveal that household energy-related efficiency has a positive effect on clean electricity transition across quantiles. This implies that household energy efficiency promotes clean electricity transition in the U.S. The results also show that energy expenditure and intensity of energy-related CO2 emissions are negatively related to clean electricity transition. However, the role of energy expenditures in the higher quantiles is positive. These findings align with the sensitivity and robustness analyses. This study offers significant contributions: First, the recently extended bivariate quantile-on-quantile regression to a multivariate case is applied. Second, we use historical and forecast datasets that span over seven decades. Overall, this study suggests the need for policymakers to utilize energy efficiency measures to stimulate transition towards clean electricity.