Working Paper: NBER ID: w31322
Authors: Peter Christensen; Paul Francisco; Erica Myers
Abstract: Building energy efficiency is a cornerstone of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies with billions of dollars set aside for extensive upgrades in the coming years. However, impact evaluations have revealed actual energy savings from home upgrade programs often fall short of projections, in part due to contractor underperformance. Using field experiment results, we show refining one program design element—offering performance bonuses to contractors— increased natural gas savings by 24% and generated $5.39-$14.53 in social benefits per dollar invested. Hence, changes to worker incentives can have sizable impacts on the cost effectiveness of GhG abatement in energy efficiency programs.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: H41; J0; Q4
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Performance-based bonuses (J33) | program natural gas savings (Q38) |
| Performance-based bonuses (J33) | efficient allocation of worker effort (J29) |
| Performance-based bonuses (J33) | social net benefits (D85) |
| home-level weatherization (Q49) | social net benefits (D85) |
| Incentive payments (J33) | increases in air tightness (L74) |
| Incentive payments (J33) | reductions in energy usage (Q41) |
| Performance pay (J33) | overall contractor performance on other tasks (L79) |