Regrets or No Regrets-That is the Question: Is Conservation a Costless C02 Mitigation Strategy?

Based on sectoral, or partial equilibrium, analyses, energy conservation has been offered as a "no regrets" COz mitigation strategy. Ours is the first study to isolate key features of conservation strategies in a general equilibrium context. The results indicate that conservation would have slightly negative effects on the U.S. economy overall, in addition to sizable negative effects on most energy industries. Thus, while conservation may be a worthy C02 mitigation strategy, it should not be oversold as costless.