The OurEnergyLibrary aggregates and indexes publicly available fact sheets, journal articles, reports, studies, and other publications on U.S. energy topics. It is updated every week to include the most recent energy resources from academia, government, industry, non-profits, think tanks, and trade associations. Suggest a resource by emailing us at info@ourenergypolicy.org.
Resource Library
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This paper reviews the recent evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of energy
efficiency interventions. After a brief review of explanations for the energy efficiency gap, we explore
key issues in energy efficiency evaluation, including the use of randomized controlled trials and
incentives faced by those performing evaluations. We provide a summary table of energy savings results
by type of efficiency intervention. We also develop an updated aggregate estimate of 2.8 cents per
kilowatt hour (kWh) of net savings from utility energy efficiency programs, but note that this estimate is
based on aggregate utility-reported energy savings. Our review of the …
Equity through energy efficiency:
Report outlines benefits and pathways to expanded low-income energy efficiency
As the country moves to a cleaner energy system, many low-income Americans have been left behind.
A new report from the EDF and Applied Public Policy Research Institute for Study and Evaluation (APPRISE) details the huge opportunity from increased investment and focus on low-income energy efficiency and outlines key steps to get there.
A win-win with energy savings for all:
Well-designed energy efficiency programs that deliver cost-effective energy savings for low-income Americans can cut utility bills by hundreds of dollars per year.
These programs can also …
View Full ResourceThis paper reviews the recent evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency interventions. After a brief review of explanations for the energy efficiency gap, we explore key issues in the evaluation of energy efficiency, including challenges and benefits to randomized controlled trials and incentives faced by those performing evaluations. We provide a summary table of savings results by type of efficiency intervention. We also develop an updated estimate of the aggregate cost-effectiveness of utility energy efficiency programs of 2.86 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) net savings, but note that this estimate is based on utility-reported aggregate energy savings. …
View Full ResourceEnergy efficiency is central to all global energy transitions. It is the world’s most available, secure and affordable energy resource and every government around the world has the power to further exploit efficiency for widespread benefit.
Energy Efficiency 2017 is the global tracker examining the trends, indicators, impacts and drivers of energy efficiency progress. The questions addressed in this year’s report include:
– How quickly is the world becoming more energy efficient? Which countries are making most progress?
– What are the impacts of energy efficiency on the global economy and energy system?
– How does energy efficiency affect global, …
Ensuring that low- and moderate-income (LMI) households have access to energy efficiency is equitable, provides energy savings as a resource to meet energy needs, and can support multiple policy goals, such as affordable energy, job creation, and improved public health. Although the need is great, many LMI households may not be able to afford efficiency improvements or may be inhibited from adopting efficiency for other reasons. Decisionmakers across the country are currently exploring the challenges and potential solutions to ramping up adoption of efficiency in LMI households. Many are exploring the use of financing as a potential tool toward meeting …
View Full ResourceEnergy efficiency may be an inexpensive way to meet future demand and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, yet little work has been attempted to estimate annual energy efficiency supply functions for electricity planning. The main advantage of using a supply function is that energy efficiency adoption can change as demand changes. Models such as Duke University’s Dynamic Integrated Economy/Energy/Emissions Model (DIEM) have had to rely on simplistic or fixed estimates of future energy efficiency from the literature rather than on estimates from energy efficiency supply curves.
This paper attempts to develop a realistic energy efficiency supply curve and to improve on …
View Full ResourceMore than 40 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States is used for operating buildings, and most of that energy goes toward appliances and building-related equipment. In accordance with the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) implements minimum efficiency standards for a wide range of appliances and equipment used in residential and commercial buildings. Within the parameters of technical feasibility and cost effectiveness, federal efficiency standards compel product designers and manufacturers to reduce the amount of energy and water necessary for the proper operation of appliances and …
View Full ResourceEnergy efficiency programs offer an effective way to reduce energy consumption and address energy burden. These programs are particularly beneficial to low-income households, which spend a higher percentage of their income on energy bills. There are many energy efficiency programs offered by states, cities, and utility companies, but often only a subset of these programs is specifically designed for and directly benefits low-income communities. This fact sheet provides an overview of how energy efficiency programs could benefit low-income communities, and how to design efficiency programs to better serve low-income communities.…
View Full ResourceThis paper explore the impact of energy efficiency as a carbon mitigation strategy in the U.S.
As temperatures across the globe hit record highs and extreme climate events multiply, interest in least-cost CO2 mitigation pathways is growing. This paper examines the pros and cons of strengthening demand-side options in strategies to reduce carbon emissions from the U.S. electricity sector. To date, demand-side management in the U.S. power sector has received overly simplistic treatment in energy models. To help fill this gap, we develop a customized version of the National Energy Modeling System to assess a range of demand- and supply-side …
View Full ResourceThis paper sets out a framework to evaluate the welfare impacts of residential energy efficiency programs in the presence of imperfect information, behavioral biases, and externalities, then estimates key parameters using a 100,000-household field experiment. Several results run counter to conventional wisdom: we find no evidence of informational or behavioral failures thought to reduce program participation, there are large unobserved benefits and costs that traditional evaluations miss, and realized energy savings are only 58 percent of predictions. In the context of the model, the two programs we study reduce social welfare by $0.18 per subsidy dollar spent, both because subsidies …
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