Abstract
The impact that two US policies have had on energy consumption and carbon emissions of small and medium enterprises (SME) is analysed in this chapter. The first policy is the Industrial Assessment Centres (IAC) programme from the Department of Energy (DOE) of the US government in which assessments are offered to companies to identify energy efficiency (EE) measures. A probit model is used for a clearer understanding of EE investment determinants in SMEs. The second consists of the US State and Regional Climate Policy actions of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Panel data is used to analyse the impact of both policies, combining information on emissions and energy consumption per unit of real GDP for 51 US states over 19 years with data on EE investments as a consequence of the first policy, and, finally, 30 climate policies implemented at state and regional levels. The results show that some policies are more effective than others in reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions. There are also notable differences across states regarding climate policy and investment decisions.
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Notes
- 1.
See Boyd et al. (2008) for more information on industrial plant manufacturing energy use.
- 2.
For more information, see http://www.iac.rutgers.edu
- 3.
See Abadie et al. (2010) for more details on how this is estimated.
- 4.
(SIC) The Standard Industrial Classification that represents the principle product manufactured by the plant.
- 5.
Note that for some years no recommendation was implemented in some states since savings and costs were equal to zero.
- 6.
Note that only executed recommendations offer information on energy consumption and emissions.
- 7.
Nominal dollars have been adjusted to the value of 2005 dollars.
- 8.
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Abadie, L.M., Ortiz, R.A., Galarraga, I., Markandya, A. (2012). Energy Efficiency Policy in the USA: The Impact of the Industrial Assessment Centres (IAC) Programme and State and Regional Climate Policy Actions. In: Costantini, V., Mazzanti, M. (eds) The Dynamics of Environmental and Economic Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5089-0_4
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