Homing in on sufficiency: Testing proposed criteria for measuring housing sufficiency

• Housing sufficiency lacks agreed-upon metrics and criteria. • Identified and tested criteria result in very different levels of sufficiency. • Energy use intensity is a poor measure for evaluating energy consumption in homes. • Large, high-energy-consuming dwellings tend to have lower energy use intensities. The concept of housing sufficiency is rising as a strategy to reduce residential emissions; however, it lacks agreed-upon metrics and criteria. Only three metrics could be identified in the literature. This paper presents a unique comparative analysis of sufficiency metrics through an application to the US housing stock. The Residential Energy Consumption Survey database was selected for its detailed information on individual homes, their residents, and their energy consumption. The first metric, based solely on floor area, finds 2.8% of homes to be sufficient and does not consider broader housing trends. This is restrictive, unrealistic and neglects nuances in housing like climate and individual needs. The second and third metrics, based on an individual’s energy consumption, find 58.3% and 78.8% of homes sufficient, but neglect the effect of floor area on the embodied carbon in construction and materials. The findings indicate that definitions and metrics to measure sufficient housing vary widely. To accurately assess the level of sufficiency of individual homes, a consensus is needed for defining what makes a home sufficient. It was found that energy use intensity is a poor metric for evaluating energy use in homes, where larger homes tend to have lower energy use intensities but higher total energy consumption. Instead of energy use intensity, metrics such as energy use per person and floor area per person should be used in the evaluation of residences.