A retrospective investigation of energy efficiency standards: policies may have accelerated long term declines in appliance costs
Abstract
We perform a retrospective investigation of multi-decade trends in price and life-cycle cost (LCC) for home appliances in periods with and without energy efficiency (EE) standards and labeling polices. In contrast to the classical picture of the impact of efficiency standards, the introduction and updating of appliance standards is not associated with a long-term increase in purchase price; rather, quality-adjusted prices undergo a continued or accelerated long-term decline. In addition, long term trends in appliance LCCs—which include operating costs—consistently show an accelerated long term decline with EE policies. We also show that the incremental price of efficiency improvements has declined faster than the baseline product price for selected products. These observations are inconsistent with a view of EE standards that supposes a perfectly competitive market with static supply costs. These results suggest that EE policies may be associated with other forces at play, such as innovation and learning-by-doing in appliance production and design, that can affect long term trends in quality-adjusted prices and LCCs.
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1222384
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1213055
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Environmental Research Letters Journal Volume: 9 Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326
- Publisher:
- IOP Publishing
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY; energy efficiency; learning; policy analysis
Citation Formats
Van Buskirk, R. D., Kantner, C. L. S., Gerke, B. F., and Chu, S. A retrospective investigation of energy efficiency standards: policies may have accelerated long term declines in appliance costs. United Kingdom: N. p., 2014.
Web. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/11/114010.
Van Buskirk, R. D., Kantner, C. L. S., Gerke, B. F., & Chu, S. A retrospective investigation of energy efficiency standards: policies may have accelerated long term declines in appliance costs. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/11/114010
Van Buskirk, R. D., Kantner, C. L. S., Gerke, B. F., and Chu, S. Fri .
"A retrospective investigation of energy efficiency standards: policies may have accelerated long term declines in appliance costs". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/11/114010.
@article{osti_1222384,
title = {A retrospective investigation of energy efficiency standards: policies may have accelerated long term declines in appliance costs},
author = {Van Buskirk, R. D. and Kantner, C. L. S. and Gerke, B. F. and Chu, S.},
abstractNote = {We perform a retrospective investigation of multi-decade trends in price and life-cycle cost (LCC) for home appliances in periods with and without energy efficiency (EE) standards and labeling polices. In contrast to the classical picture of the impact of efficiency standards, the introduction and updating of appliance standards is not associated with a long-term increase in purchase price; rather, quality-adjusted prices undergo a continued or accelerated long-term decline. In addition, long term trends in appliance LCCs—which include operating costs—consistently show an accelerated long term decline with EE policies. We also show that the incremental price of efficiency improvements has declined faster than the baseline product price for selected products. These observations are inconsistent with a view of EE standards that supposes a perfectly competitive market with static supply costs. These results suggest that EE policies may be associated with other forces at play, such as innovation and learning-by-doing in appliance production and design, that can affect long term trends in quality-adjusted prices and LCCs.},
doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/9/11/114010},
journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
number = 11,
volume = 9,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Fri Nov 14 00:00:00 EST 2014},
month = {Fri Nov 14 00:00:00 EST 2014}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/11/114010
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