Michael Zimmerman
Pronouns: He/Him/His
UROP Fellowship: University of Michigan Energy Institute
Research Mentor(s): Tony Reames, PhD
School for Environment and Sustainability
Presentation Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 | Session 2 | Presenter: 3
Authors: Michael Zimmerman
Abstract
Across the United States, low-income households pay over three times more of their monthly income for energy and heating than higher income households. To reduce low-income households’ disproportionate energy burden, utilities invest in low-income energy efficiency programs. These programs improve the energy efficiency of qualifying households by upgrading insulation in ceilings and walls, or installing more efficient appliances. While most utilities provide these programs, there is no consensus across the 24 states that regulate utilities’ energy efficiency programs as to how much they must invest into their low-income programs specifically. As such, this research visually presents a comparative framework to analyze the equity of investor-owned utilities’ investments into low-income energy efficiency programs. This framework, called the “Energy Efficiency Equity Baseline,” or “E3B,” determines “equitable” investment by a utility into its low-income energy efficiency programs as proportional to that utility’s low-income population. The study finds that, overall, utilities are investing into low-income programs at a below-equitable level. These findings further scholarship regarding energy justice by visualizing eligible investor-owned utilities’ performance relative to an equitable investment standard for low-income energy efficiency programs. On a broader scale, this research supports energy justice advocates, utility stakeholders, and energy policy makers in understanding and improving utilities’ equitable performance relative to both competitors and the equitable investment standard itself. Additionally, the study’s findings provide accessible data for energy justice advocacy groups to further encourage utilities to invest equitably into low-income energy efficiency programs.
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Presentation Script
Research Disciplines
Environmental Studies
