Is California More Energy Efficient than the Rest of the Nation? Evidence from Commercial Real Estate

Posted: 23 Mar 2016

See all articles by Matthew E. Kahn

Matthew E. Kahn

University of Southern California; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Nils Kok

School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University

Peng Liu

Cornell University - S.C. Johnson College of Business - School of Hotel Administration

Date Written: February 19, 2016

Abstract

California's per-capita electricity consumption is 50 percent lower than national per-capita consumption. Mild climate, deindustrialization, ad its demographics explain parts of this differential. California energy efficiency policy is often claimed to be another key factor. A challenge in judging this claim is the heterogeneity of the real estate capital stock. Residential homes differ along a large number of physical attributes. We access a proprietary dataset from a large hotel chain that allows us to evaluate the environmental performance of comparable commercial real estate across the United States. Controlling for climate conditions and geographical location, we document that California's commercial real estate stock is the most energy efficient at a point in time but this differential is quantitatively small. However, over the years 2007 to 2013, California's hotels achieved much greater energy efficiency progress than hotels in other states.

Keywords: Energy Efficiency, Durable Capital, Hotels, and Carbon Mitigation

JEL Classification: Q40, Q56, R33

Suggested Citation

Kahn, Matthew E. and Kok, Nils and Liu, Peng, Is California More Energy Efficient than the Rest of the Nation? Evidence from Commercial Real Estate (February 19, 2016). USC-INET Research Paper No. 16-08, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2753344 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2753344

Matthew E. Kahn (Contact Author)

University of Southern California ( email )

2250 Alcazar Street
Los Angeles, CA 90089
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Nils Kok

School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, 6200 MD
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.maastrichtrealestate.com

Peng Liu

Cornell University - S.C. Johnson College of Business - School of Hotel Administration ( email )

448 Statler Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
United States
6072542960 (Phone)

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