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

The study provides a wide-ranging empirical analysis of the drivers of innovation, with a particular focus on the policy side, in residential energy efficiency technologies. The panel analysis of 23 OECD countries over the period 1990-2010, confirms the importance of adopting a systemic perspective when eco-innovation is under scrutiny. In particular, the innovation systems, both national and sectoral, together with the energy systems, spurred 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 EE technologies changes if disaggregated policy instruments are investigated. The role of policy mix as well as of policy coordination and coherence also positively affect the innovative activity in EE residential technologies.