Three empirical essays on consumer behavior related to climate change and energy.

摘要

This dissertation consists of three essays. All of the chapters address a topic in the area of household and consumer behavior related to climate change or energy.;The first chapter is titled "The Al Gore Effect: An Inconvenient Truth and Voluntary Carbon Offsets". This chapter examines the relationship between climate change awareness and household behavior by testing whether Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth caused an increase in the purchase of voluntary carbon offsets. The analysis shows that in the two months following the film's release, zip codes within a 10-mile radius of a zip code where the film was shown experienced a 50 percent relative increase in the purchase of voluntary carbon offsets.;The second chapter is titled "Are Building Codes Effective at Saving Energy? Evidence from Residential Billing Data in Florida". The analysis shows that Florida's energy-code change that took effect in 2002 is associated with a 4-percent decrease in electricity consumption and a 6-percent decrease in natural-gas consumption in Gainesville, FL. The estimated private payback period for the average residence is 6.4 years and the social payback period ranges between 3.5 and 5.3 years.;The third chapter in this dissertation is titled "Do Environmental Offsets Increase Demand for Dirty Goods? Evidence from Residential Electricity Demand". This study evaluates the relationship between green products and existing patterns of consumer behavior by examining the relationship between household enrollment in a green electricity program and consumption of residential electricity. The results suggest there are two different types of green consumers. One type makes a small monthly donation and partially views the donation as a substitute for a previously existing pattern of green behavior, in this case, energy conservation. The other type makes a larger monthly donation and views the donation as a way to make strictly additional improvements in environmental quality.