Economics of efficiency improvements in residential appliances and space conditioning equipment

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985 · AIP Conf. Proc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6311568

Levine, M D; Koomey, J; Ruderman, H; Craig, P; McMahon, J; Chan, P

The authors examine eight major residential appliances in the US that currently consume 8.9 quads/year, representing more than 12% of total 1984 US energy use. Expenditures on energy for these appliances totaled over $56 billion in 1984. Results indicate that improving the efficiency of all these appliances to economically optimal levels would reduce these annual expenditures by almost 30%, a savings of $17 billion per year. In steady state, the annualized additional investment cost to achieve this efficiency improvement is $7 billion, so the net savings is about $10 billion per year. This paper describes and analyzes energy efficiency choices for residential appliances and space conditioning equipment. The first section briefly illustrates historical trends in the average efficiencies of new appliances sold in the United States during the last decade. The second section shows results of the life-cycle cost analysis of eight major residential appliances. Results provide striking evidence that the market is not achieving economically optimal efficiency levels. 7 references, 5 figures, 8 tables.

• Research Organization: Univ. of California, Berkeley
• OSTI ID: 6311568
• Report Number(s): CONF-850414-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conf. Proc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 135
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
291000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Conservation
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320101* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Residential Buildings-- (-1987)
APPLIANCES
BUILDINGS
COST
ECONOMIC IMPACT
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
ENERGY SYSTEMS
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
LIFE-CYCLE COST
MARKET
OPTIMIZATION
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
SPACE HVAC SYSTEMS