Policy Feedback & Climate Justice: Improving Solar Access for Americans

• In Event: Renovating Democracy through Addressing Environmental Justice

Abstract

Despite the proliferation of rooftop solar in the U.S., the distribution of its deployment and associated benefits have not been equitable. Improving access through targeted solar incentives can increase the uptake amongst low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. Can the feedback effects from previous policies be utilized to advance energy equity and climate justice for these vulnerable communities? This paper examines the simultaneous effect of energy efficiency policies and electricity sector portfolio standards on the adoption and diffusion of LMI solar incentives. Event history analysis indicates that a state’s adoption of the incentives and their diffusion across states between 2010 and 2019 has been conditional on the state’s portfolio standards, but independent of energy efficiency policies. Moreover, feedback effects from the portfolio standards in neighboring states are found to have a regressive impact on the likelihood of adoption and there is no evidence for geographic clustering in the diffusion across states.

Author

• Aparajita Datta, University of Houston