Heterogeneity in the Rebound Effect: Evidence from Efficient Lighting Subsidies

This paper quantifies heterogeneity in rebound effects from policy-induced energy efficiency improvements by income and home size. We do so in a relatively understudied context: residential lighting. This context allows us to separately estimate effects for energy services (lighting hours) and electricity consumption. We identify the effect of household-level subsidy uptake using instrumental variables for program awareness. We find that rebound effects are larger for low-income households and those in smaller homes. We also show that the rebound effect is not large enough to backfire and all income and home-size subsamples exhibit net energy savings.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the heterogeneity in rebound effects from policy-induced energy efficiency improvements by examining the influence of income and home size. The study focuses on residential lighting as the context, and separately estimates the effects on energy services and electricity consumption. The findings show that rebound effects are more significant for low-income households and those living in smaller homes. However, the rebound effect is not large enough to lead to increased energy consumption, and all income and home-size groups achieve net energy savings.