IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/efe/wpaper/01-2014.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Policy Instruments to Foster Energy Efficiency

Author

Listed:
  • Anil Markandya

    (Basque Centre for Climate Change (Bilbao, Spain))

  • Xavier Labandeira

    (Economics for Energy and Universidade de Vigo)

  • Ana Ramos

    (Economics for Energy and Universidade de Vigo)

Abstract

In this paper we focus on the reasons why progress in terms of realizing the energy efficiency potential has been so limited. To being with we consider why individuals and firms do not take advantage of the benefits of increased energy efficiency. Then we turn to the role of policy in moving agents closer to the optimal level. Governments have a range of instruments at their disposal for doing so and while some of them have been successful other have not. Lessons can be learnt from the experience in implementing these different measures. The paper finishes with some thoughts on how policies can be made more effective. Given its overarching nature the paper should be seen as an introduction to the rest of the book where many of the different instruments for energy efficiency are discussed in greater detail.

Suggested Citation

  • Anil Markandya & Xavier Labandeira & Ana Ramos, 2013. "Policy Instruments to Foster Energy Efficiency," Working Papers 01-2014, Economics for Energy.
    • Handle: RePEc:efe:wpaper:01-2014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eforenergy.org/docpublicaciones/documentos-de-trabajo/WP01-2014.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth Gillingham & Karen Palmer, 2014. "Bridging the Energy Efficiency Gap: Policy Insights from Economic Theory and Empirical Evidence," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 8(1), pages 18-38, January.
    2. Espey, Molly, 1998. "Gasoline demand revisited: an international meta-analysis of elasticities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 273-295, June.
    3. Mundaca, Luis & Neij, Lena, 2009. "A multi-criteria evaluation framework for tradable white certificate schemes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4557-4573, November.
    4. Markandya, Anil & Ortiz, Ramon Arigoni & Mudgal, Shailendra & Tinetti, Benoit, 2009. "Analysis of tax incentives for energy-efficient durables in the EU," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5662-5674, December.
    5. Sterner, Thomas, 2007. "Fuel taxes: An important instrument for climate policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 3194-3202, June.
    6. Pedro Linares & Xavier Labandeira, 2010. "Energy Efficiency: Economics And Policy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 573-592, July.
    7. Kenneth Gillingham & Richard G. Newell & Karen Palmer, 2009. "Energy Efficiency Economics and Policy," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 597-620, September.
    8. Deng, Yongheng & Li, Zhiliang & Quigley, John M., 2012. "Economic returns to energy-efficient investments in the housing market: Evidence from Singapore," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 506-515.
    9. Thorsnes, Paul & Williams, John & Lawson, Rob, 2012. "Consumer responses to time varying prices for electricity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 552-561.
    10. Franz Fuerst & Patrick McAllister, 2011. "Green Noise or Green Value? Measuring the Effects of Environmental Certification on Office Values," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 39(1), pages 45-69, March.
    11. Galarraga, Ibon & Ramos, Ana & Lucas, Josu & Labandeira, Xavier, 2014. "The price of energy efficiency in the Spanish car market," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 272-282.
    12. Pat McAllister & Franz Fuerst & Buki Ekeowa, 2011. "The Impact of Energy Performance Certificates on the Rental and Capital Values of Commercial Property," ERES eres2011_89, European Real Estate Society (ERES).
    13. Piet Eichholtz & Nils Kok & John M. Quigley, 2010. "Doing Well by Doing Good? Green Office Buildings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2492-2509, December.
    14. Mourato, Susana & Saynor, Bob & Hart, David, 2004. "Greening London's black cabs: a study of driver's preferences for fuel cell taxis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 685-695, March.
    15. Kenneth Gillingham & David Rapson & Gernot Wagner, 2016. "The Rebound Effect and Energy Efficiency Policy," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(1), pages 68-88.
    16. Fuerst, Franz & McAllister, Patrick, 2011. "The impact of Energy Performance Certificates on the rental and capital values of commercial property assets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6608-6614, October.
    17. Doostizadeh, Meysam & Ghasemi, Hassan, 2012. "A day-ahead electricity pricing model based on smart metering and demand-side management," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 221-230.
    18. Achtnicht, Martin, 2011. "Do environmental benefits matter? Evidence from a choice experiment among house owners in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 2191-2200, September.
    19. Peter Grosche & Colin Vance, 2009. "Willingness to Pay for Energy Conservation and Free-Ridership on Subsidization: Evidence from Germany," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 135-154.
    20. Gans, Will & Alberini, Anna & Longo, Alberto, 2013. "Smart meter devices and the effect of feedback on residential electricity consumption: Evidence from a natural experiment in Northern Ireland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 729-743.
    21. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1082-1095, October.
    22. Ryan, Lisa & Ferreira, Susana & Convery, Frank, 2009. "The impact of fiscal and other measures on new passenger car sales and CO2 emissions intensity: Evidence from Europe," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 365-374, May.
    23. Lucas W. Davis & Alan Fuchs & Paul J. Gertler, 2012. "Cash for Coolers," NBER Working Papers 18044, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. del Río, Pablo, 2010. "Analysing the interactions between renewable energy promotion and energy efficiency support schemes: The impact of different instruments and design elements," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 4978-4989, September.
    25. Gillingham, Kenneth & Palmer, Karen, 2013. "Bridging the Energy Efficiency Gap: Insights for Policy from Economic Theory and Empirical Analysis," RFF Working Paper Series dp-13-02, Resources for the Future.
    26. Banfi, Silvia & Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo & Jakob, Martin, 2008. "Willingness to pay for energy-saving measures in residential buildings," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 503-516, March.
    27. Bento, Antonio M. & Li, Shanjun & Roth, Kevin, 2012. "Is there an energy paradox in fuel economy? A note on the role of consumer heterogeneity and sorting bias," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 44-48.
    28. Iwaro, Joseph & Mwasha, Abraham, 2010. "A review of building energy regulation and policy for energy conservation in developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(12), pages 7744-7755, December.
    29. Brand, Christian & Anable, Jillian & Tran, Martino, 2013. "Accelerating the transformation to a low carbon passenger transport system: The role of car purchase taxes, feebates, road taxes and scrappage incentives in the UK," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 132-148.
    30. repec:arz:wpaper:eres2011-89 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Alberto Gago & Xavier Labandeira & Xiral López Otero, 2014. "A Panorama on Energy Taxes and Green Tax Reforms," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 208(1), pages 145-190, March.
    32. Mundaca, Luis, 2008. "Markets for energy efficiency: Exploring the implications of an EU-wide 'Tradable White Certificate' scheme," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 3016-3043, November.
    33. Kwak, So-Yoon & Yoo, Seung-Hoon & Kwak, Seung-Jun, 2010. "Valuing energy-saving measures in residential buildings: A choice experiment study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 673-677, January.
    34. Steven Sorrell, 2003. "Carbon Trading in the Policy Mix," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 19(3), pages 420-437.
    35. Galarraga, Ibon & González-Eguino, Mikel & Markandya, Anil, 2011. "Willingness to pay and price elasticities of demand for energy-efficient appliances: Combining the hedonic approach and demand systems," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(S1), pages 66-74.
    36. Datta, Souvik & Gulati, Sumeet, 2014. "Utility rebates for ENERGY STAR appliances: Are they effective?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 480-506.
    37. Lori Bennear & Robert Stavins, 2007. "Second-best theory and the use of multiple policy instruments," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 37(1), pages 111-129, May.
    38. Noailly, Joëlle, 2012. "Improving the energy efficiency of buildings: The impact of environmental policy on technological innovation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 795-806.
    39. Jerry A. Hausman, 1979. "Individual Discount Rates and the Purchase and Utilization of Energy-Using Durables," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 33-54, Spring.
    40. David Revelt & Kenneth Train, 1998. "Mixed Logit With Repeated Choices: Households' Choices Of Appliance Efficiency Level," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 647-657, November.
    41. Kenneth E. Train & Terry Atherton, 1995. "Rebates, Loans, and Customers' Choice of Appliance Efficiency Level: Combining Stated- and Revealed-Preference Data," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 55-70.
    42. Oikonomou, Vlasis & Jepma, Catrinus & Becchis, Franco & Russolillo, Daniele, 2008. "White Certificates for energy efficiency improvement with energy taxes: A theoretical economic model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 3044-3062, November.
    43. Manuel Frondel & Jorg Peters & Colin Vance, 2008. "Identifying the Rebound: Evidence from a German Household Panel," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 145-164.
    44. Geller, Howard & Harrington, Philip & Rosenfeld, Arthur H. & Tanishima, Satoshi & Unander, Fridtjof, 2006. "Polices for increasing energy efficiency: Thirty years of experience in OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 556-573, March.
    45. Anna Alberini, Silvia Banfi, and Celine Ramseier, 2013. "Energy Efficiency Investments in the Home: Swiss Homeowners and Expectations about Future Energy Prices," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    46. Mundaca, Luis, 2007. "Transaction costs of Tradable White Certificate schemes: The Energy Efficiency Commitment as case study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 4340-4354, August.
    47. De Castro, Luciano & Dutra, Joisa, 2013. "Paying for the smart grid," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(S1), pages 74-84.
    48. Bertoldi, Paolo & Rezessy, Silvia & Lees, Eoin & Baudry, Paul & Jeandel, Alexandre & Labanca, Nicola, 2010. "Energy supplier obligations and white certificate schemes: Comparative analysis of experiences in the European Union," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1455-1469, March.
    49. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1082-1095.
    50. Hassett, Kevin A. & Metcalf, Gilbert E., 1995. "Energy tax credits and residential conservation investment: Evidence from panel data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 201-217, June.
    51. Sebastien Houde, Annika Todd, Anant Sudarshan, June A. Flora , and K. Carrie Armel, 2013. "Real-time Feedback and Electricity Consumption: A Field Experiment Assessing the Potential for Savings and Persistence," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    52. Jaffe, Adam B. & Stavins, Robert N., 1994. "The energy-efficiency gap What does it mean?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 804-810, October.
    53. Brounen, Dirk & Kok, Nils, 2011. "On the economics of energy labels in the housing market," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 166-179, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ramos, A. & Gago, A. & Labandeira, X. & Linares, P., 2015. "The role of information for energy efficiency in the residential sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(S1), pages 17-29.
    2. Giraudet, Louis-Gaëtan, 2020. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to energy savings in the building sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Fischbacher, Urs & Schudy, Simeon & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2021. "Heterogeneous preferences and investments in energy saving measures," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Alberto Gago & Michael Hanemann & Xavier Labandeira & Ana Ramos, 2013. "Climate change, buildings and energy prices," Chapters, in: Roger Fouquet (ed.), Handbook on Energy and Climate Change, chapter 19, pages 434-452, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Dalia Streimikiene & Tomas Balezentis & Irena Alebaite, 2020. "Climate Change Mitigation in Households between Market Failures and Psychological Barriers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-21, June.
    6. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet, 2018. "Energy efficiency as a credence good: A review of informational barriers to building energy savings," Working Papers 2018.07, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    7. Galarraga, Ibon & Abadie, Luis M. & Ansuategi, Alberto, 2013. "Efficiency, effectiveness and implementation feasibility of energy efficiency rebates: The “Renove” plan in Spain," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(S1), pages 98-107.
    8. Samdruk Dharshing & Stefanie Lena Hille, 2017. "The Energy Paradox Revisited: Analyzing the Role of Individual Differences and Framing Effects in Information Perception," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 485-508, December.
    9. Panzone, Luca A., 2013. "Saving money vs investing money: Do energy ratings influence consumer demand for energy efficient goods?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 51-63.
    10. Schleich, Joachim & Gassmann, Xavier & Faure, Corinne & Meissner, Thomas, 2016. "Making the implicit explicit: A look inside the implicit discount rate," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 321-331.
    11. Galarraga, Ibon & Abadie, Luis M. & Kallbekken, Steffen, 2016. "Designing incentive schemes for promoting energy-efficient appliances: A new methodology and a case study for Spain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 24-36.
    12. Schueftan, Alejandra & Aravena, Claudia & Reyes, René, 2021. "Financing energy efficiency retrofits in Chilean households: The role of financial instruments, savings and uncertainty in energy transition," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    13. Richard G. Newell & Juha Siikamäki, 2014. "Nudging Energy Efficiency Behavior: The Role of Information Labels," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(4), pages 555-598.
    14. Pedro Linares & Xavier Labandeira, 2010. "Energy Efficiency: Economics And Policy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 573-592, July.
    15. de Ayala, Amaia & Galarraga, Ibon & Spadaro, Joseph V., 2016. "The price of energy efficiency in the Spanish housing market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 16-24.
    16. Ana Ramos & Alicia Pérez-Alonso & Susana Silva, 2015. "Valuing Energy Performance Certificates in the Portuguese Residential," Working Papers 02-2015, Economics for Energy.
    17. Hyland, Marie & Lyons, Ronan C. & Lyons, Seán, 2013. "The value of domestic building energy efficiency — evidence from Ireland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 943-952.
    18. Giovanni Marin & Alessandro Palma, 2015. "Technology invention and diffusion in residential energy consumption. A stochastic frontier approach," IEFE Working Papers 81, IEFE, Center for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    19. Saunders, Harry D. & Roy, Joyashree & Azevedo, Inês M.L. & Chakravarty, Debalina & Dasgupta, Shyamasree & De La Rue Du Can, Stephane & Druckman, Angela & Fouquet, Roger & Grubb, Michael & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Energy efficiency: what has research delivered in the last 40 years?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114344, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Copiello, Sergio, 2017. "Building energy efficiency: A research branch made of paradoxes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1064-1076.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:efe:wpaper:01-2014. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Pablo Pintos (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://eforenergy.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.