This paper uses data on heating bills to study the distribution of energy efficiency outcomes in the German multi-apartment residential building stock. To uncover the underlying energy efficiency of buildings, we estimate the causal response of heat energy demand to variability in heating degree days. We examine the heterogeneity in temperature response using both fixed effects regressions and causal forests, and pay close attention to the regional socioeconomic distribution. Our results suggest that the distribution of energy efficiency is not equitable in the West of Germany. We show that although the newer and more energy-efficient buildings are located in the South of Germany, the older building stock in less prosperous East regions of Germany are surprisingly energy efficient, likely as a result of large investments in renovations post-reunification. Finally, we show that the regional distribution of energy efficiency reflects, in part, differences in heating needs – thus, the poorer energy standards of buildings in the North-West should be weighed against the warmer climatic zone.
AGEB (2018). Anwendungsbilanzen für die Endenergiesektoren in Deutschland in den Jahren 2013 bis2017. Report, AG Energiebilanzen e.V. (available online, in German).
2.
AtheyS.TibshiraniJ.WagerS. (2019). “Generalized random forests.” The Annals of Statistics 47(2): 1148–1178. https://doi.org/10.1214/18-AOS1709.
3.
AtheyS.WagerS. (2019). “Estimating treatment effects with causal forests: An application.” Observational Studies 5(2): 37–51. https://doi.org/10.1353/obs.2019.0001.
BMWi (2019). Zahlen und Fakten, Energiedaten. Report, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. (available online, in German).
6.
BorensteinS.DavisL.W. (2016). “The Distributional Effects of U.S. Clean Energy Tax Credits.” NBER Tax Policy and the Economy 30(1): 191–234. https://doi.org/10.1086/685597.
7.
BreidenbachP.EilersL. (2018). “RWI-GEO-GRID: Socio-economic data on grid level.” Journal of Economics and Statistics 238(6): 609–616. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2017-0171.
BrueggeC.DeryuginaT.MyersE. (2019). “The Distributional Effects of Building Energy Codes.” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 6(2): 95–127. https://doi.org/10.1086/701189.
10.
ChristensenP.FranciscoP.MyersE.SouzaM. (2021). “Decomposing the Wedge between Projected and Realized Returns in Energy Efficiency Programs.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 1–46. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_01087.
11.
Destatis (2012). Bauen und Wohnen. Mikrozensus—Zusatzerhebung 2010. Report, Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden. (available online, in German).
12.
Destatis (2016). Bauen und Wohnen. Mikrozensus—Zusatzerhebung 2014. Report, Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden. (available online, in German).
13.
Destatis (2018). Wirtschaftsrechnungen: Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe Wohnverhältnisse privater Haushalte. Fachserie 15 Sonderheft 1, Statistisches Bundesamt. (available online, in German).
14.
Destatis (2019). Wohnen in Deutschland—Zusatzprogramm des Mikrozensus2018. Report, Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden. (available online, in German).
15.
El-ShagiM.MichelsenC.RosenschonS. (2017). “Empirics on the Long-Run Effects of Building Energy Codes in the Housing Market.” Land Economics 93(4): 585–607. https://doi.org/10.3368/le.93.4.585.
16.
FowlieM.GreenstoneM.WolframC. (2018). “Do Energy Efficiency Investments Deliver? Evidence from the Weatherization Assistance Program.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 133(3): 1597–1644. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjy005.
17.
GalvinR.Sunikka-BlankM. (2013). A Critical Appraisal of Germany’s Thermal Retrofit Policy: Turning Down the Heat. London: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5367-2.
18.
GiraudetL.-G.HoudeS.MaherJ. (2018). “Moral hazard and the Energy Efficiency Gap: Theory and Evidence.” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 5(4): 755–790. https://doi.org/10.1086/698446.
19.
JacobsenG.D. (2019). “An examination of how energy efficiency incentives are distributed across income groups.” The Energy Journal 40(6): 171–198. https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.40.6.gjac.
20.
KotchenM.J. (2017). “Longer-run evidence on whether building energy codes reduce residential energy consumption.” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 4(1): 135–153. https://doi.org/10.1086/689703.
21.
McCoyD.KotschR. (2021). “Quantifying the distributional impact of energy efficiency measures.” The Energy Journal 42(6). https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.42.6.dmcc.
RWI and microm (2020). RWI-GEO-GRID: Socio-economic data on grid level (wave 9). Version: 1. RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research. Dataset. http://doi.org/10.7807/microm:V8.
Sunikka-BlankM.GalvinR. (2012). “Introducing the prebound effect: the gap between performance and actual energy consumption.” Building Research &Information, 40(3): 260–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2012.690952.
26.
WagerS.AtheyS. (2018). “Estimation and inference of heterogeneous treatment effects using random forests.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 113(523): 1228–1242. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.2017.1319839.
27.
WeißD.MichelsenC. (2011). “The improvement of housing conditions in post communist Germany—market mechanisms and subsidy impacts.” Conference paper. 51st Congress of the ERSA: 30 August–3September2011, Barcelona, Spain.
28.
ZivinJ.G.NovanK. (2016). “Upgrading efficiency and behavior: Electricity savings from residential weatherization programs.” The Energy Journal 37(4): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.37.4.jziv.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.