Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Increase in household energy consumption due to ambient air pollution

Nature Energy volume 5, pages 976–984 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

In response to acute environmental stresses such as air pollution, households may resort to quick and convenient adaptation measures that increase energy use, amplifying the environmental impact and requiring additional adaptation. This cycle of energy-intensive adaptation has so far received little consideration by the broader energy community. Here, we analyse the response of Korean households to PM2.5 (ultrafine dust), based on real-time hourly smart meter data. We show that a 75 μg m–3 increase in PM2.5 concentration led to an 11.2% increase in electricity consumption, equivalent to the impact of a 3.5 °C increase in the average summer temperature. The magnitude of the energy-intensive adaptation correlated with households’ lifestyles and was higher on weekends and during daytime hours on both weekdays and weekends. The responses also reflected seasonal differences and had a U-shape relationship with temperature. We illustrate the importance of integrating the broader impacts of air pollution into policymaking to strike a proper balance between its mitigation and adaptation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Spatial distribution of the sample households and average and standard deviations of PM2.5 concentration and daily temperature.
Fig. 2: Hourly energy response to PM2.5 pollution on weekdays and weekends.
Fig. 3: Moderation effect of temperature on energy response to PM2.5 pollution.
Fig. 4: Seasonal changes in hourly energy response to PM2.5 pollution.
Fig. 5: The feedback loop of energy demand, impact of climate change and air pollution, and resulting energy-intensive adaptation.

Data availability

The output data generated during our analyses are available at the following public repository: https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/_/12775967. This repository also contains R-scripts to reproduce all tables and figures in this paper, as well as matched air quality and weather data for the individual anonymized households. Energy datasets generated and analysed during this study will be made available on a case-by-case basis upon request to the corresponding author, with input from the co-authors, subject to compliance with Encored’s Ethics and Personal Information Use Board restrictions.

References

  1. Liao, X. et al. Residents’ perception of air quality, pollution sources, and air pollution control in Nanchang, China. Atmos. Pollut. Res. 6, 835–841 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Liu, X. et al. Public’s health risk awareness on urban air pollution in Chinese megacities: the cases of Shanghai, Wuhan and Nanchang. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 13, 845 (2016).

  3. Manisalidis, I., Stavropoulou, E., Stavropoulos, A. & Bezirtzoglou, E. Environmental and health impacts of air pollution: a review. Front. Public Heal. 8, 1–13 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Outdoor Air Pollution a Leading Environmental Cause of Cancer Deaths (International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2013).

  5. Chan, C. K. & Yao, X. Air pollution in mega cities in China. Atmos. Environ. 42, 1–42 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Zanobetti, A. et al. The temporal pattern of respiratory and heart disease mortality in response to air pollution. Environ. Health Perspect. 111, 1188–1193 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Balakrishnan, K. et al. The impact of air pollution on deaths, disease burden, and life expectancy across the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet Planet. Heal. 3, e26–e39 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Singh, P., Dey, S., Chowdhury, S. & Bali, K. Early Life Exposure to Outdoor Air Pollution: Effect on Child Health in India Brookings India Working Paper Series (Brookings India, 2019).

  9. Rohde, R. A. & Muller, R. A. Air pollution in China: mapping of concentrations and sources. PLoS One 10, e0135749 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Chen, Y., Ebenstein, A., Greenstone, M. & Li, H. Evidence on the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy from China’s Huai River policy. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 12936–12941 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Pope, C. A. & Dockery, D. W. Air pollution and life expectancy in China and beyond. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 12861–12862 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Lelieveld, J., Evans, J. S., Fnais, M., Giannadaki, D. & Pozzer, A. The contribution of outdoor air pollution sources to premature mortality on a global scale. Nature 525, 367–371 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Pope, C. A. III et al. Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 287, 1132–1141 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Pope, C. A. et al. Fine-particulate air pollution and life expectancy in the United States. N. Engl. J. Med. 360, 376–386 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Chay, K. Y. & Greenstone, M. The impact of air pollution on infant mortality: evidence from geographic variation in pollution shocks induced by a recession. Q. J. Econ. 118, 1121–1167 (2003).

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. State of Global Air /2017: A Special Report on Global Exposure to Air Pollution and Its Disease Burden (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2017).

  17. Zastrow, M. South Korea cracks down on dirty air. Nature News https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2017.22448 (3 October 2017).

  18. Fifield, A. & Seo, Y. Smog becomes a political issue in South Korean election. The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/smog-becomes-a-political-issue-in-south-korean-election/2017/04/27/afd55dba-1a2d-11e7-8598-9a99da559f9e_story.html (2017).

  19. Kang, H., Suh, H. & Yu, J. Does air pollution affect consumption behavior? Evidence from Korean retail sales. Asian Econ. J. 33, 235–251 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Graff Zivin, J. & Neidell, M. The impact of pollution on worker productivity. Am. Econ. Rev. 102, 3652–3673 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. He, J., Liu, H. & Salvo, A. Severe air pollution and labor productivity: evidence from industrial towns in China. Am. Econ. J. Appl. Econ. 11, 173–201 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Bento, A., Freedman, M. & Lang, C. Who benefits from environmental regulation? Evidence from the Clean Air Act amendments. Rev. Econ. Stat. 97, 610–622 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Chang, T., Zivin, J. G., Gross, T. & Neidell, M. Particulate pollution and the productivity of pear packers. Am. Econ. J. Econ. Policy 8, 141–169 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. World Energy Outlook 2019 (International Energy Agency, 2019); https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/pdf/0383(2012).pdf

  25. Fouquet, R. Path dependence in energy systems and economic development. Nat. Energy 1, 16098 (2016).

  26. Jacob, D. J. & Winner, D. A. Effect of climate change on air quality. Atmos. Environ. 43, 51–63 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. McCollum, D. L., Krey, V. & Riahi, K. An integrated approach to energy sustainability. Nat. Clim. Change 1, 428–429 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. West, J. J. et al. Co-benefits of mitigating global greenhouse gas emissions for future air quality and human health. Nat. Clim. Change 3, 885–889 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Harlan, S. L. & Ruddell, D. M. Climate change and health in cities: impacts of heat and air pollution and potential co-benefits from mitigation and adaptation. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 3, 126–134 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Barrington-Leigh, C. et al. An evaluation of air quality, home heating and well-being under Beijing’s programme to eliminate household coal use. Nat. Energy 4, 416–423 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Barnett, J. & O’Neill, S. Maladaptation. Glob. Environ. Change 20, 211–213 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Laukkonen, J. et al. Combining climate change adaptation and mitigation measures at the local level. Habitat Int. 33, 287–292 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Kovats, R. S. & Kristie, L. E. Heatwaves and public health in Europe. Eur. J. Public Health 16, 592–599 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Kalkstein, A. J. & Sheridan, S. C. The social impacts of the heat-health watch/warning system in Phoenix, Arizona: assessing the perceived risk and response of the public. Int. J. Biometeorol. 52, 43–55 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Kalkstein, L. S., Jamason, P. F., Greene, J. S., Libby, J. & Robinson, L. The Philadelphia hot weather-health watch/warning system: development and application, summer 1995. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 77, 1519–1528 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Anguelovski, I., Chu, E. & Carmin, J. Variations in approaches to urban climate adaptation: experiences and experimentation from the global South. Glob. Environ. Change 27, 156–167 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Kim, B., Yoon, E. J., Kim, S. & Lee, D. K. The effects of risk perceptions related to particulate matter on outdoor activity satisfaction in South Korea. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 17, 1613 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Anderson, J. O., Thundiyil, J. G. & Stolbach, A. Clearing the air: a review of the effects of particulate matter air pollution on human health. J. Med. Toxicol. 8, 166–175 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Evans, G. W. et al. Human adaptation to smog. J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc. 32, 1054–1057 (1982).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Amato, A. D., Ruth, M., Kirshen, P. & Horwitz, J. Regional energy demand responses to climate change: methodology and application to the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Clim. Change 71, 175–201 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Ruth, M. & Lin, A. C. Regional energy demand and adaptations to climate change: methodology and application to the state of Maryland, USA. Energy Policy 34, 2820–2833 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Christenson, M., Manz, H. & Gyalistras, D. Climate warming impact on degree-days and building energy demand in Switzerland. Energy Convers. Manag. 47, 671–686 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Mukhopadhyay, S. & Nateghi, R. Climate sensitivity of end-use electricity consumption in the built environment: an application to the state of Florida, United States. Energy 128, 688–700 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Aragon, F. M., Miranda, J. J. & Oliva, P. Particulate matter and labor supply: the role of caregiving and non-linearities. J. Environ. Econ. Manag. 86, 295–309 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Saberian, S., Heyes, A. & Rivers, N. Alerts work! Air quality warnings and cycling. Resour. Energy Econ. 49, 165–185 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Agarwal, S., Foo, T. & Yang, Y. The impact of transboundary haze pollution on household utilities consumption. Energy Econ. 85, 104591 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Li, Y., Pizer, W. A. & Wu, L. Climate change and residential electricity consumption in the Yangtze River Delta, China. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 472–477 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Davis, L. W. & Gertler, P. J. Contribution of air conditioning adoption to future energy use under global warming. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 5962–5967 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Deschênes, O. & Greenstone, M. Climate change, mortality, and adaptation: evidence from annual fluctuations in weather in the US. Am. Econ. J. Appl. Econ. 3, 152–185 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Liu, T., He, G. & Lau, A. Avoidance behavior against air pollution: evidence from online search indices for anti-PM2.5 masks and air filters in Chinese cities. Environ. Econ. Policy Stud. 20, 325–363 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Eom, Y., Kim, J. & Ahn, S. Measuring willingness to pay for PM10 risk reductions: evidence from averting expenditures for anti-PM10 masks and air purifiers. Environ. Resour. Econ. Rev. Korean 28, 355–383 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  52. Graff Zivin, J. & Neidell, M. Days of haze: environmental information disclosure and intertemporal avoidance behavior. J. Environ. Econ. Manag. 58, 119–128 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Ito, K. & Zhang, S. Willingness to pay for clean air: evidence from air purifier markets in China. J. Polit. Econ. 128, 1627–1672 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Sheldon, T. L. & Sankaran, C. Averting behavior among Singaporeans during Indonesian forest fires. Environ. Resour. Econ. 74, 159–180 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. 2013 Survey on Residential Appliance Adoption and Use Behavior (Korea Power Exchange, 2013).

  56. 2018 Survey on the Use of Air Conditioners (Gallup Korea, 2018).

  57. Taylor, T. N., Schwarz, P. M. & Cochell, J. E. 24/7 hourly response to electricity real-time pricing with up to eight summers of experience. J. Regul. Econ. 27, 235–262 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Archibald, B., Finifter, D. & Moodty, C. Jr Seasonal variation in residential electricity demand: evidence from survey data. Appl. Econ. 14, 167–181 (1982).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Ito, K. Do consumers respond to marginal or average price? Evidence from nonlinear electricity pricing. Am. Econ. Rev. 104, 537–563 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Deryugina, T., Heutel, G., Miller, N. H., Molitor, D. & Reif, J. The mortality and medical costs of air pollution: evidence from changes in wind direction. Am. Econ. Rev. 109, 4178–4219 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Buch, H., Pedersen, H. B. & Sztokhamer, I. The variations in the concentrations of airborne particulate matter with wind direction and wind speed in Denmark. Atmos. Environ. 10, 159–162 (1976).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Barmpadimos, I., Keller, J., Oderbolz, D., Hueglin, C. & Prévôt, A. S. H. One decade of parallel fine (PM 2.5) and coarse (PM 10-PM 2.5) particulate matter measurements in Europe: trends and variability. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 12, 3189–3203 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Lee, S., Ho, C. H., Lee, Y. G., Choi, H. J. & Song, C. K. Influence of transboundary air pollutants from China on the high-PM10 episode in Seoul, Korea for the period October 16-20, 2008. Atmos. Environ. 77, 430–439 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Oh, H. R. et al. Long-range transport of air pollutants originating in China: a possible major cause of multi-day high-PM10 episodes during cold season in Seoul, Korea. Atmos. Environ. 109, 23–30 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank S. Cha at Kweather for providing air quality data, J. Choe at Encored Technologies for providing smart meter energy data and E.-K. Jeong at KAIST for assisting in obtaining an earlier version of the data. This research was supported by the Korean Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning through the Graduate School of Green Growth at KAIST College of Business. J.E.’s research is also supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2017R1A2B4002170 and NRF-2019K1A3A1A78112573).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Jiyong Eom, Minwoo Hyun & Jaewoong Lee

  2. Encored Technologies, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Hyoseop Lee

Authors
  1. Jiyong Eom
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Minwoo Hyun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jaewoong Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hyoseop Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

J.E. conceptualized the study, led the design of the work and led the writing of the manuscript. J.E. and M.H reviewed the literature, performed the formal data analysis and led the interpretation of results. M.H. created the figures and contributed to writing the manuscript. J.L. and H.L. contributed to the collection and processing of data, discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jiyong Eom.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Notes 1–4, Figs. 1–7, Tables 1–10 and refs 1–7.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Eom, J., Hyun, M., Lee, J. et al. Increase in household energy consumption due to ambient air pollution. Nat Energy 5, 976–984 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-00698-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-00698-1

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing