Overcoming Market Barriers and Using Market Forces to Advance Energy Efficiency

The United States has made much progress in energy efficiency in recent decades. U.S. energy use is approximately half of what it would have been if we had not improved our efficiency over the past 40 years. Still, there are large, cost-effective opportunities to increase energy efficiency much further, thereby helping us to cut energy bills, reduce pollution, and encourage economic growth. However, a variety of market failures and market barriers contribute to keeping us from fully realizing our energy efficiency potential.
This report analyzes several targeted policies that leverage market forces and address specific market failures and barriers to energy efficiency without requiring substantial spending or government mandates.