Date of Award

1-1-2015

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Natual Science and Mathematics

First Advisor

Eric Boschmann, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Andrew Goetz

Third Advisor

Ron Throupe

Keywords

Boulder County, Energy efficiency, Geographic Information System, GIS, Spatial analysis, Survey research, Sustainability

Abstract

The completion of residential energy efficiency upgrades leads to multifaceted benefits including cost and energy savings, increased household comfort, health benefits, and reduced CO2 emissions. As a result of these benefits, state and local energy efficiency programs across the United States are striving to increase the widespread adoption of energy efficiency upgrades by homeowners. Many program strategies for widespread adoption are informed by case studies of other successful energy efficiency programs. These program strategies would benefit from the additional insight provided by spatial analysis, but a spatial perspective is currently underutilized by energy efficiency programs across the United States. This thesis research examines Boulder County, Colorado’s EnergySmart residential energy efficiency program using a mixed-methods approach that combines GIS cluster analysis, spatially targeted survey research, and demographic analysis. Research findings include a GIS cluster analysis technique for targeting future energy efficiency upgrades, survey results that provide an overview of attitudes towards energy efficiency in Boulder County divided by cluster type, political ideology and other demographic characteristics, the identification of active peer effects as an important factor in widespread adoption of energy efficiency upgrades, and the identification of specific demographic groups that are currently underserved by energy efficiency upgrade programs in Boulder County.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Walter Stanley Scheib

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

175 p.

Discipline

Geography, Energy, Sustainability

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