Regrets or No Regrets -- That is the Question: Is Conservation an Costless CO2 Mitigation Strategy?

Based on sectoral, or partial equilibrium, analyses, energy conservation has been offered as a "no regrets" CO2 mitigation strategy. Ours is the first study to isolate key features of conservation strategies in a general equilibrium context. The results indicate that conservation would have slightly negative! effects on the U.S. economy overall, in addition to sizable negative effects on most energy industries. Thus, while conservation may be a worthy CO2 mitigation strategy, it should not be oversold as costless.