Equity Metrics for Residential Building Decarbonization

Residential buildings are an often overlooked source of carbon pollution. The building sector must increase energy efficiency measures and replace fossil fuel-powered appliances with electric alternatives. However, barriers such as cost and access to residential building decarbonization programs can have significant equity implications. The distribution of benefits and burdens for residential building decarbonization programs, policies, and other initiatives needs to be taken into account as the low-carbon energy transition continues to accelerate.

Explore this page to see equity metrics based on the three dimensions of health, access, and livelihood. This framework can be used as a starting point to evaluate the equity and justice impacts of residential building decarbonization initiatives.

Health Dimension

Indicator

Proximity to hazard


Pollutant Exposure


Health outcome


Health monetization

Metric

Household fuel usage

Household pollutant concentration and exposure

Pollutant emissions

Incidence and risk of disease

Avoided premature mortality

Avoided morbidity

Monetized health benefits or costs

Measurement

Total households using natural gas cooking (#), proportion of households using natural gas cooking (%), total households using solid fuels for cooking (#)

Percentage of households exposed (%), change in personal pollutant exposure (%)

Pollutant emissions per unit of energy (g J-1) or per unit of time (g h-1)

Proportion of asthma cases attributable to gas stove use (%), increased asthma risk associated with gas cooking (%), disability adjusted life years (DALY)

Cumulative avoided premature mortalities (#), annual avoided premature mortalities (# year -1)

Annual avoided bronchitis cases (# year -1)

Cumulative health benefits ($), annual health benefits ($ year -1)

Access Dimension

Resource availability

Resource cost


Technology adoption


Program participation

Energy efficiency measure availability


Energy efficiency measure cost

Energy efficiency measure adoption

Energy efficiency (EE) program participation

Proportion of stores selling energy efficient light bulbs by neighborhood poverty level (%); relative likelihood of landlord installing energy efficiency measure between rental and owner-occupied properties (%); difference in number of energy efficiency measures by building type and home ownership status (#)

Relative cost of energy efficiency measures across communities ($), cost difference of efficiency upgrades across communities

Relative energy efficiency measure adoption by home ownership status (%)

Participation rates in EE programs by income (%), relative likelihood of EE program participation

Indicator

Metric

Measurement

Livelihood Dimension

Employment

Safety and security

Number of jobs


Energy security

Displacement

Job years (#), full-time equivalent jobs (#)

Share of households reporting energy insecurity pre and post energy efficiency program (%), relative risk ratio (RR) of experiencing energy insecurity by race, immigration status, and other factors, the difference between the highest and lowest median household inflection temperatures across income groups (F or C)

Changes in electricity consumption across income and racial groups (%)

Annual energy cost changes ($ year -1), annual household energy savings ($ year -1)

Difference in average rent increase by renovation type (%), share of households facing rent increases due to energy efficiency renovations (%), proportion of tenants displaced from rent increases due to energy efficiency renovations (%)


Increase in utility disconnections (%), utility disconnection rates across zip codes by race and ethnicity (%)

Indicator

Metric

Energy insecurity

Energy consumption

Energy expenditures

Utility disconnections

Measurement