Saving from home! How income, efficiency, and curtailment behaviors shape energy consumption dynamics in US households?

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the role of energy efficiency and curtailment behaviors and examine how these behaviors are mediated by annual household income to explain overall energy consumption dynamics in US households using a nationally representative dataset. Our two-part empirical analysis first explores the role of annual household income on the efficiency and curtailment behaviors while controlling for the physical and demographic variables using structural equation modeling (SEM). Next, we test the extent and direction of self-reported energy efficiency and curtailment behaviors in explaining total energy/electricity consumption of households using cluster analysis and multivariate linear regression methods. We find efficiency behaviors to be positively correlated with the household income. However, the direction of relationship between income and curtailment behaviors appears to vary depending upon specific actions. Our findings also suggest that in comparison to the consistent role of physical factors in the residential energy consumption, the nature and direction of behavioral factors are mixed and vary with specific behaviors and context. Our study builds upon the existing literature on residential energy saving behaviors and provides important insights for tailored, targeted, and effective policies.