This project will examine changes in electricity use by Sydney households since 2008 which have installed solar PV technology compared to those who have not (controlling for socio-economic context and key government and utility policy settings; eg. pricing and feed-in tariffs and dwelling energy efficiency) in order to identify whether conservation or rebound (Jevons) effects are associated with solar PV take-up.
Findings from this research can help determine whether a conservation or a rebound effect needs to be factored into projected energy/carbon savings from a range of renewable energy generation/carbon mitigation interventions; as well as forecasts of future electricity demand. There are policy implications at federal (eg. RET, NEM) and state government/energy utility levels (eg. feed-in tariffs, pricing).