title: Reducing U.S. residential energy use and CO2 emissions: how much, how soon, and at what cost?
abstract: There is growing interest in reducing energy use and emissions of carbon dioxide from the residential sector by deploying cost-effectiveness energy efficiency measures. However, there is still large uncertainty about the magnitude of the reductions that could be achieved by pursuing different energy efficiency measures across the nation. Using detailed estimates of the current inventory and performance of major appliances in U.S. homes, we model the cost, energy, and CO2 emissions reduction if they were replaced with alternatives that consume less energy or emit less CO2. We explore trade-offs between reducing CO2, reducing primary or final energy, or electricity consumption. We explore switching between electricity and direct fuel use, and among fuels. The trade-offs between different energy efficiency policy goals, as well as the environmental metrics used, are important but have been largely unexplored by previous energy modelers and policy-makers. We find that overnight replacement of the full stock of major residential appliances sets an upper bound of just over 710 × 10(6) tonnes/year of CO2 or a 56% reduction from baseline residential emissions. However, a policy designed instead to minimize primary energy consumption instead of CO2 emissions will achieve a 48% reduction in annual carbon dioxide emissions from the nine largest energy consuming residential end-uses. Thus, we explore the uncertainty regarding the main assumptions and different policy goals in a detailed sensitivity analysis.
authors: Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA. iazevedo@cmu.edu
authors: Inês
authors: I
authors: Lima Azevedo
authors: M Granger
authors: MG
authors: Morgan
authors: Karen
authors: K
authors: Palmer
authors: Lester B
authors: LB
authors: Lave
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis*; D058572:Carbon Footprint / Q000191:economics*; D004560:Electricity; D058735:Environmental Policy / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide