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Policy Inducement Effects in Energy Efficiency Technologies. An Empirical Analysis of the Residential Sector

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Green Energy and Efficiency

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

Abstract

Energy efficiency technologies represent a key driver for the reduction of energy demand, leading to environmental and economic benefits. This aspect appears to be particularly relevant in the residential sector, where the demand for energy has not shown a decreasing trend over the last two decades. Our study provides a wide-ranging empirical analysis of the drivers of innovation in energy efficiency technologies by looking at the residential sector for a comprehensive panel of 23 OECD countries over the 1990–2010 period. It confirms the importance of adopting a systemic perspective when examining eco-innovation. In particular, the innovation system at both national and sectoral levels, together with the environmental and the energy systems, is found to have encouraged the propensity to innovate and significantly shaped the rate and direction of technical change in the residential sector. A general policy inducement effect is found to be relevant, but the size of its contribution for new energy efficient technologies changes if disaggregated policy instruments are factored in. We note a positive and significant impact driven not only by standard regulations but also by policies aimed at improving the level of consumer information and awareness. This evidence has noteworthy policy implications and suggests paths for the further development of research in this field.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In particular, freezers, refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers.

  2. 2.

    Specifically the “early application date” document field. Moreover, only application codes A1 and A2 are considered in order to capture the most innovative inventions.

  3. 3.

    As a sensitivity analysis, we also tested different discount rates (specifically 10 and 20 %), but they did not affect our results significantly.

  4. 4.

    http://www.iea.org/policiesandmeasures/energyefficiency/.

  5. 5.

    For instance, Wilson et al. [77] underline the non-technical nature of this indicator for measuring energy efficiency, while Jenne and Cattel [43] point out the bias due to divergent country-specific sectoral economy mixes.

  6. 6.

    Test results are available upon request.

  7. 7.

    Test results are available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from: (i) the European Union D.G. Research under Grant Agreement number 283002 for the research project‘ ‘Environmental Macro Indicators of Innovation’ (EMInInn); (ii) the Roma Tre University-INEA-ENEA Consortium; (iii) the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (Scientific Research Program of National Relevance 2010 on “Climate change in the Mediterranean area: scenarios, economic impacts, mitigation policies and technological innovation”). The usual disclaimer applies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Roma Tre University, Via Silvio’d Amico 77, 00145, Rome, Italy

    Valeria Costantini, Francesco Crespi & Alessandro Palma

  2. Collegio Carlo Alberto, Moncalieri, TO, Italy

    Gianluca Orsatti

Authors
  1. Valeria Costantini
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  2. Francesco Crespi
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  3. Gianluca Orsatti
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  4. Alessandro Palma
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Correspondence to Alessandro Palma .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain

    Alberto Ansuategi

  2. Basque Centre for Climate Change(BC3), Bilbao, Spain

    Juan Delgado

  3. Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Bilbao, Spain

    Ibon Galarraga

Appendix

Appendix

Table 6a Patent classes by technological domains and keywords
Full size table
Table 6b Patent classes by technological domains and keywords
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Table 7 Countries
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Costantini, V., Crespi, F., Orsatti, G., Palma, A. (2015). Policy Inducement Effects in Energy Efficiency Technologies. An Empirical Analysis of the Residential Sector. In: Ansuategi, A., Delgado, J., Galarraga, I. (eds) Green Energy and Efficiency. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03632-8_9

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