Research

This paper estimates how public ownership affects the pass-through of energy cost shocks to consumers. I study municipal and investor-owned electric utilities during the 1970s energy crises using a newly digitized panel of residential electricity prices from 1959–1988. Comparing utilities within the same Federal Power Commission Power Supply Area and state over time, I find that publicly owned utilities increased prices significantly less than investor-owned utilities exposed to the same regional energy shocks. Municipal utilities charged residential customers $1.66 less per month (1970 dollars) than nearby privately owned utilities during the post-shock period, equivalent to approximately $163 annually per household in 2025 dollars, with effects growing even larger following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. I provide evidence that public utilities achieved lower pass-through by absorbing cost increases internally: municipal utilities experienced larger reductions in operating margins relative to investor-owned utilities, and the consumer benefit was smaller for municipal utilities facing larger operating cost growth, consistent with limits to financial absorption. The results show that ownership structure affects the allocation of economic shocks between producers and consumers.

As climate change accelerates, energy affordability has become an increasingly urgent challenge, particularly for low-income households. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the United States' primary mechanism for delivering energy assistance to low-income households, increasingly faces constrained capacity and an uncertain future. This paper investigates how state-level variations in LIHEAP implementation affects program participation. Drawing on LIHEAP State and Territory Plans, we examine variation across three key dimensions: (1) timing and duration of assistance relative to shifting seasonal energy needs; (2) the type of administering state agency and the degree of coordination across the social safety net; and (3) outreach strategies. Using 2016–2022 linear regression estimates, we find that states where LIHEAP is administered by community service agencies are associated with higher participation rates, while administration by welfare agencies is associated with higher total participation. LIHEAP programs that coordinate application processes with other social programs are associated with reaching a larger share of eligible households, whereas passive outreach methods show limited effectiveness. Cooling degree days are not statistically associated with participation, suggesting a lag between evolving climate conditions and program adaptation. Finally, relying on 2024 data, we observe descriptive evidence of misalignment between state weather trends and funding periods. Together, these findings highlight the importance of program design and implementation in shaping access to energy assistance. We offer state-specific insights to improve LIHEAP's responsiveness and enhance the program's capacity to support low-income American households amid a changing climate.

Low-income weatherization programs provide home energy efficiency upgrades to reduce utility costs, improve indoor comfort, and address the health and safety needs of income-constrained households. This review examines seventeen retrospective, outcome-focused evaluations of weatherization programs conducted over the past four decades to assess how program evaluation methods have evolved, where critical gaps remain, and how future studies can improve. This review highlights key developments in evaluation design and causal inference methods, from early pre-post comparisons to recent use of randomized encouragement designs, matching techniques, and staggered difference-in-differences estimators. Second, it evaluates the potential of new digital and physical tools such as smart meters, sensors, and other measurement and verification technologies to improve data collection for more timely and precise evaluation. Third, it identifies growing programmatic needs that evaluations must address, including persistent barriers to participation and the expansion of weatherization services to homes requiring pre-weatherization repairs. Across prior studies, we find that many evaluations remain limited by small or unrepresentative samples, selection-biased control groups, and reliance on self-reported or inconsistent data. No evaluations to date have incorporated community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches, limiting their responsiveness to local needs. The review concludes by offering recommendations for strengthening future evaluations, including strategies for incorporating CBPR, improving data access, and leveraging advanced econometric tools.

A robust literature has emerged that describes the correlates and consequences of high energy burdens. However, limitations and gaps exist, particularly with respect to units and scales of analysis. We compile a unique combination of aggregate and survey data for Georgia, including a stratified on-line survey of 1800 adults and a co-created survey of 28 income- and/or energy-stressed Black households. The results indicate a systemic ~30% under-estimation of Georgia's average energy burden when only aggregate data are used. We characterize the vulnerabilities, mediators, and consequences that commonly accompany high energy burdens, particularly when compounded by multiple vulnerabilities. Black, low-income female-headed households with children pay a particularly high percent of their income on energy. Energy burden vulnerabilities also correlate with low levels of adoption of heat pumps, LED lighting, smart thermostats, and solar systems – reinforcing evidence that participation in the clean energy transition is uneven. Multiple energy burden vulnerabilities also increase the potential for severe consequences such as home eviction, homelessness, the inability to pay child support, and job termination. Overall, we illustrate the value of multiple scales of analysis to estimate energy burdens, understand the role of mitigating measures, characterize consequences, and design effective policies.

Thin film stress is frequently controlled through adjustments applied to the processing parameters used during film deposition. In this work, we explore how the use of solutes with different intrinsic growth properties influences the residual growth stress development for a common solvent Cu film. The findings demonstrated that the addition of a high atomic mobility solute, Ag, or a low atomic mobility solute, V, results in both alloy films undergoing grain refinement that scaled with increases in the solute content. This grain refinement was associated with solute segregation and was more pronounced in the Cu(Ag) system. The grain size reduction was also associated with an increase in the tensile stresses observed in both alloy sets. These findings indicate that solutes can be used to control the grain size under the same deposition conditions, as well as alter the stress evolution of a growing thin film.