Innovative energy‐efficiency policies: an international review

Policies to improve end‐use energy efficiency have invoked great interest over the past several decades because the reduction of energy waste is often the fastest, cheapest, and cleanest energy resource. Most energy‐efficiency (EE) programs and policies to date have been implemented in industrialized nations. This article reviews some of the more innovative efforts, and also describes the EE policies being launched in today's emerging economies, emphasizing the wide range of energy markets, resources, and infrastructures. The focus is on information, financing, and regulatory policies that target efficiency improvements in the buildings and industrial sectors. The review summarizes the array of market failures and barriers, examines theory‐based policy design principles, and uses metrics such as levelized costs and policy supply curve to evaluate policy options. One conclusion from this international review is that policies need to be periodically updated to track technology advances and evolving market conditions. In addition, policymakers need to develop a comprehensive compliance regime, since noncompliance issues not only result in a failure to meet policy goals, but also can produce a loss of confidence in the reliability of EE programs. This article describes many creative and innovative ways that policy regimes are being designed, implemented, and enforced, such that failures of the past can be avoided and successes can be replicated and expanded. WIREs Energy Environ 2015, 4:1–25. doi: 10.1002/wene.125 This article is categorized under: Energy Policy and Planning > Economics and Policy