Identification of elements to control and regulate residential energy consumption

Abstract

Residential energy consumption in the USA has been marked by a steady growth over the past decades in spite of the implementation of various energy efficiency policies. To develop effective energy efficiency policies for the residential sector, it is important to understand the causal factors and their effects on residential energy consumption. There is a dearth of literature on plausible ways to modify and manipulate factors that influence residential energy consumption. This paper builds on previous study by the authors that identified a list of factors affecting residential energy consumption and grouped them under four major categories, such as demographics, consumer attitude, economy, and climate. The study analyzed the correlates of each of the energy consumption factors and an ecological framework of residential energy consumption was created using fishbone diagram method. Subsequently, the "affinity diagram" technique was adopted to generate energy efficiency control elements from the energy consumption factors. Findings of the paper shed light on how the identified control elements govern energy consumption factors to a great extent. These control elements will assist policy-makers in ameliorating and targeting the most critical factors that will help to curb the increasing energy consumption of the residential sector in the USA.

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