Effectiveness of Building Energy Performance Standards to Curtail Household Energy Demand: A Theoretical Analysis

The Congress of the United States enacted the Energy Conservation and Production Act in 1976. It was amended in 1977. Title III of this act is designed to implement policies to curtail energy demand associated with new buildings; Title IV is aimed at establishing policies to encourage energy conservation in existing buildings. The main purposes of both Titles are to curtail energy consumption on the part of households as well as commercial buildings. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of various policies, which may be followed by the government under this Act, for curtailing the energy use by the households. Although no comprehensive energy policy to meet this goal has yet been formulated, the purpose of the Act gives a clear indication about the type of policy that could eventually emerge. My intention is not only to examine the effectiveness of the policy or policies emerging from the above Titles, but also to compare them with alternate, albeit traditional, policies of pricing, taxes, and subsidies aimed to reduce energy demand.