Nives Dolšak. “Who Can Improve Energy Efficiency in the U.S. - Government or Market Forces?”

World Resource Review, (1994) Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 585-596.

ABSTRACT:

Although the need for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is internationally recognized, questions of what is to be reduced, who is supposed to do it, and how can it be done, remain at the center of the global climate change policy debate. This paper focuses on the largest emissions of greenhouse gases, that is, carbon dioxide emission in the U.S.A. Emissions can be reduced in two ways: by increasing energy efficiency and/or by changing energy-use patterns. The paper examines how market forces and/or government action can be harnessed to increases energy efficiency. Governmental action is necessary to facilitate markets through relaxation of information- and capital-constraints. Governmental actions occur at various levels (federal, state, county, etc) and across functional departments (energy, transportation, urban planning, etc.). Interests at these multiple points may not always converge. Further, we cannot distinctively recognize which policy outcomes were caused by which instruments. To address these complexities of policy analysis, this paper employs a sectoral-level analysis, as user profile and market characteristics differ across sectors (residential, commercial, industry, transportation, and energy generation and distribution). The following questions are examined in the paper: (1) Is the U.S. energy policy comprehensive in acknowledging the entire gamut of the issues and delineation of the alternatives: (2) Are the policy goals actually translated into legislation; and (3) Do instruments accomplish the policy goals.