The asymmetric effect of household and commercial energy efficiency on U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions

As environmental threats intensify, policies that reduce carbon (CO 2 ) emissions become essential for attaining a sustainable environment. This study examines the asymmetric effect of household and commercial energy efficiency on energy-related carbon emissions in the U.S. over the period 1970 to 2040. Using the Cross-Quantilogram, Wavelet Quantile Correlation, Wavelet Coherence, Quantile-on-Quantile Regression, and Nonparametric Quantile Granger Causality approaches, the empirical results provide the following: (i) The effect of household and commercial energy efficiency on energy-related CO 2 emissions is negative across time, frequency domains, and conditional quantiles of the ERCE. (ii) The intensity of mitigating energy-related CO 2 emissions arising from household improvement in energy efficiency is stronger in the long and very long terms. At the same time, the effect of commercial energy efficiency is stronger in the short and medium terms. (iii) Household and commercial energy efficiency predicts energy-related CO 2 emissions across all conditional quantiles, except the extreme tails. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of how household and commercial energy efficiency asymmetrically affects energy-related CO 2 emissions. • Effect of household and commercial energy efficiency on energy-relate CO 2 emissions is explored. • Use Wavelet Quantile Correlation, Cross-Quantilogram, and Wavelet Coherence methods. • Household energy efficiency reduces energy-related CO 2 with stronger effect in the long term. • Environmental mitigating effect of commercial energy efficiency is stronger in the short and medium terms. • Household and commercial energy efficiency predicts energy-related CO 2 emissions across all quantiles, except the extreme tails.