“The difficulty in getting people to participate in the federal weatherization program, even with significant incentives and strong encouragement, as well as the negative private and social rates of return realized, suggests that extent of the market failure, if it exists at all, is substantially overblown.”
Government intervention in the name of energy efficiency provisions often enjoys bipartisan support. Relying more on engineering than real-world economic analysis, proponents argue that there is an energy efficiency gap in which individuals and firms forego such investments that would provide both private and social benefits, the latter via negative externalities associated with energy use.
Government programs, it is argued, can eliminate this market failure. But like most government programs, the benefits of government-driven energy efficiency are often far less than promised.
Market vs. Government Decision-Making
Investing in energy efficiency can be beneficial. …
The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy & environmental policies. Our basic position is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science. It’s all spelled out at WiseEnergy.org, which is a wealth of energy and environmental resources.
A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every three weeks this newsletter is compiled to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and environmental matters.
Some articles of particular note in this issue are:
Wind Turbine Infrasound: Terms & Conditions Defined
A very good graphic for Wind Energy Noise
EIA Report: Subsidies Continue to Roll In For Wind and Solar
Differences between Real Science and Man Made Global Warming Science
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Greed Energy Economics:
Renewable Energy — the Most Expensive Policy Disaster in History
EIA Report: Subsidies Continue to Roll In For Wind and Solar
Property purchasers win award due to failure to disclose wind project
Kansas Legislators debate killing their RPS
Study concludes that NC’s RPC costs each citizen $1500± per year
Archive: How Electricity Became a Luxury Good
Archive: Study finds wind energy increases cost of electricity and CO2 emissions
Blowing More Tax Dollars on Subsidies
Wind Turbines Blamed for Pushing Up Rates
German Companies May File $22 Billion Lawsuit due to wind energy, etc.…
Editor note: The advocacy arm of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), the American Energy Alliance (AEA), has launched a new analysis and advocacy program, The American Energy Scorecard. A description of the new initiative from AEA follows.]
Energy is the lifeblood of modern society. It touches every aspect of American life— fueling our transportation systems, powering our offices, and heating and lighting our homes. Affordable, abundant, and reliable energy empowers us to grow and prosper. In fact, energy is the single most important mechanism for alleviating poverty and promoting prosperity.
It is in the spirit of promoting energy prosperity that the American Energy Alliance has launched the American Energy Scorecard, the first and only free-market congressional energy accountability scorecard.
The American Energy Scorecard educates lawmakers about the most important energy votes of the year and empowers the American people to hold their elected officials accountable for the decisions they make in Washington.…