Efficiency, Renewables, and the Effect of Energy Policy Interactions on Residential Electricity Consumption in the United States PDF Download

Author: Robert A. Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political planning
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
This paper examines whether the combination of different energy policies yields interaction effects that influence the impact had by any single policy on its outcome of interest. In particular, this study examines whether a particular renewable energy policy--the renewable portfolio standard (RPS)--influences the reductions in electricity consumption that are achieved in residential buildings by an energy efficiency resource standard (EERS). The units of analysis are the 48 contiguous U.S. states, and electricity consumption outcomes are considered for the nine year period 2001 to 2009. Fixed effects panel regression analysis shows that, under certain conditions, interaction effects between RPS and EERS instruments do influence electricity consumption outcomes. The finding is not robust, however, and the interaction effects disappear when certain other policy factors are introduced into the econometric model. This suggests that it may be appropriate to consider policy interactions when making decisions about state-level energy policies, but policy interactions should not be of paramount or overriding concern. In contrast, the significant and robust association between residential electricity consumption and the RPS and other renewable energy policy instruments highlights the importance of considering a broad range of energy policy goals when developing individual policy tools. Similarly, the association between electricity consumption and the EERS instrument reaffirms the importance of carefully considering the specifics of each individual policy on its own merit. Because of the relatively short period of time that EERS policies have been in effect, and also because of other data limitations that appear to obscure the observed relationship between electricity consumption and certain of the explanatory variables, replication of this study's methodology may be warranted after more data--regarding both EERS performance and other determinants of electricity consumption--becomes available. Additional data may enable the effect or non-effect of energy policy interactions to be more conclusively demonstrated.