IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/fcnwpa/2020_016.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Energy Efficiency: What has it Delivered in the Last 40 Years?

Author

Listed:
  • Saunders, Harry

    (Carnegie Institution for Science, Global Ecology Group, Stanford, USA)

  • Roy, Joyashree

    (Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand)

  • Azevedo, Inês M.L.

    (Stanford University, USA)

  • Chakravarty, Debalina

    (Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta)

  • Dasgubta, Shyamasree

    (Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India)

  • de la Rue du Can, Stephane

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA)

  • Druckman, Angela

    (University of Surrey, UK)

  • Fouquet, Roger

    (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)

  • Grubb, Michael

    (University College London, UK)

  • Qiang Lin, Bo

    (Xiamen University, China)

  • Lowe, Robert

    (University College London, UK)

  • Madlener, Reinhard

    (E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN))

  • McCoy, Daire

    (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)

  • Mundaca, Luis

    (International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University, Sweden)

  • Oreszczyn, Tadj

    (University College London, UK)

  • Sorrell, Steve

    (University of Sussex, UK)

  • Stern, David

    (Australian National University)

  • Tanaka, Kanako

    (Japan Science and Technology Agency, Japan)

  • Wei, Taoyuan

    (CICERO Center for International Climate Research, Norway)

Abstract

This article presents a critical assessment of research and practices that emerged over last 40 years that may be brought under the umbrella of “energy efficiency,” spanning different aggregations and domains – from individual producing and consuming agents to economy-wide effects, the role of innovation, and the influence of policy. It highlights advances in understanding the benefits of energy efficiency innovation, improvements in economic and measurement methods and tools, and progress in bending downward the energy use per unit economic output curve, which has taken over a century. We focus on how well deliberate policy actions have influenced energy users in the uptake of energy efficiency. We also note how policies pursued thus far have put less attention on social welfare, inequity issues, and need to better account for complex dynamics associated with how micro actions affect macro outcomes, and to include a richer interdisciplinary approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Saunders, Harry & Roy, Joyashree & Azevedo, Inês M.L. & Chakravarty, Debalina & Dasgubta, Shyamasree & de la Rue du Can, Stephane & Druckman, Angela & Fouquet, Roger & Grubb, Michael & Qiang Lin, Bo &, 2020. "Energy Efficiency: What has it Delivered in the Last 40 Years?," FCN Working Papers 16/2020, E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN), revised Apr 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:fcnwpa:2020_016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.fcn.eonerc.rwth-aachen.de/global/show_document.asp?id=aaaaaaaabacrpjl
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrzej Pacana & Karolina Czerwińska & Grzegorz Ostasz, 2023. "Analysis of the Level of Efficiency of Control Methods in the Context of Energy Intensity," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-26, April.
    2. Heesen, Florian & Madlener, Reinhard, 2021. "Revisiting heat energy consumption modeling: Household production theory applied to field experimental data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Schreiner, Lena & Madlener, Reinhard, 2022. "Investing in power grid infrastructure as a flexibility option: A DSGE assessment for Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. Delorme, Maxence & Santini, Alberto, 2022. "Energy-efficient automated vertical farms," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    5. Fouquet, Roger & Hippe, Ralph, 2022. "Twin transitions of decarbonisation and digitalisation: a historical perspective on energy and information in European economies," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115544, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Anna Barwińska-Małajowicz & Radosław Pyrek & Krzysztof Szczotka & Jakub Szymiczek & Teresa Piecuch, 2023. "Improving the Energy Efficiency of Public Utility Buildings in Poland through Thermomodernization and Renewable Energy Sources—A Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-21, May.
    7. Diaz de Garayo, S. & Martínez, A. & Astrain, D., 2022. "Optimal combination of an air-to-air thermoelectric heat pump with a heat recovery system to HVAC a passive house dwelling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    energy efficiency; energy intensity; efficiency policy; energy efficiency gap; public policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N70 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ris:fcnwpa:2020_016. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Hendrik Schmitz (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fceonde.html .

    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.