RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Photovoltaics and the Solar Rebound: Evidence from Germany
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 070621-0077R1
DO 10.3368/le.070621-0077R1
A1 Frondel, Manuel
A1 Kaestner, Kathrin
A1 Sommer, Stephan
A1 Vance, Colin
YR 2022
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/early/2022/09/14/le.070621-0077R1.abstract
AB Recent research suggests that households increase their electricity consumption after installing photovoltaic (PV) panels, a behavioral change commonly referred to as the solar rebound. Using panel data originating from the German Residential Energy Consumption Survey (GRECS), we investigate the existence of a solar rebound effect. Our empirical results suggest that PV panel adoption does not change the amount of electricity that households take from the grid. As we derive theoretically, this implies a solar rebound that is bounded from above by about 50%, while back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest a lower bound of 12% and an average solar rebound of 35%.