Investigation of the Importance of Residential Energy Services in Normal Days and Natural Disasters

Natural disasters (e.g., winter storms, heat waves, and hurricanes) threaten residents’ energy services due to associated limited power supply or even power outages. Maintaining the desired level of residential energy services is critical. However, it is still unclear about the importance of each energy service to residents during disasters and how these services differ from normal days. In this study, we developed and distributed a large-scale survey to Texas residents to investigate the perceived importance of different energy end-uses during normal and disaster situations. The results illustrate that during disasters, residents prefer reducing energy use but keeping the continuous power supply, and the importance ratings on all energy services have significantly decreased. Based on the degree of compromise, measured as the difference in perceived importance between normal days and disasters, residential energy services are classified into two categories: critical services (i.e., HVAC, cooking, refrigerator, and freezer) and noncritical services (e.g., lighting, water heater, TV, dishwasher, and laundry). Critical services are less likely to be compromised during disasters than noncritical services. Additionally, one-way ANOVA results illustrate that race, income, education level, family size, and climate and energy beliefs influence end-use importance and compromise. Generally, these factors have larger impacts on noncritical services and vary between normal or disaster situations. In particular, higher education levels or stronger climate and energy beliefs contribute to greater compromise on energy services. The findings fill in the gaps to understand the varied importance of different energy services during disasters and inform the improved design of energy supply schemes under climate change, increasing energy service resilience.