Internal and external barriers to energy efficiency: which role for policy interventions?

This paper reviews the empirical literature that provides a correlation between the different barriers to energy efficiency and consumer behavior related to two domains. It evaluates behavior related to energy curtailment, which represents routine, repetitive effort to decrease consumption on a day-to-day basis. It also considers behavior related to investments, which are one time actions such as purchasing new energy efficiency technologies. The paper also reviews the existing literature that assesses the effect of policies on energy use and investment in energy efficiency technologies. By surveying the relevant research, this paper has two objectives. First, it discusses the impact of different barriers on energy efficiency, and second, it combines policy interventions with barriers related to both energy use and investment in energy efficiency technologies.