UC Irvine

Given our rapidly changing society, the complexity of residential energy often hinders the efficacy of energy conservation policies designed to address our current social and environmental problems. Therefore, understanding this complexity appears to be essential to successfully building and efficiently implementing energy policies. The present dissertation attempts to advance our understanding of the dynamics and complexity of residential energy consumption by investigating various determinants and contextual factors through the three interrelated pieces of applied research. Using American Housing Survey (AHS) data, the first study investigates the dynamics of residential energy consumption at the micro level. It is found that the electricity consumption of households who have moved into new homes is generally lower than average, and their consumption is found to increase as the period of residence increases. The second study examines the relationship between the choice of energy-efficient systems and inter-agent dynamics. By employing a logistic regression model with two national datasets, the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) and the American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample (ACS PUMS), the empirical analysis reveals statistically significant differences in the installation of solar energy systems among households with different degrees of two major inter-agent issues—split incentives and split decision-making problems. The last study focuses on the complexity of residential energy consumption relevant to the surrounding environments, and it pays special attention to seasonality. Based on city-wide data from Chicago and using a special econometric model, the empirical analysis reveals the seasonal dynamics between urban forms and residential energy consumption. Through these three empirical studies, this dissertation explores the dynamics of residential energy consumption in various dimensions and reveals the complicated mechanisms that determine residents’ choices with respect to energy consumption. The evidence from this study is especially important because it reinforces the conclusion that there is no panacea when addressing energy issues. This study suggests that policy-makers and planners should instead thoroughly understand a wide range of contextual factors and their influences in order to develop more effective, context-specific energy policies that best fit each distinct geographical and socio-economic situation.