CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2011
| Author | Dayringer, Sarah Nicole |
|---|---|
| Title | IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN THE US: A State Level Analysis |
| Summary | Despite its technological advancement, wealth, and sound constitutional ethic, the United States is one of the most energy inefficient countries in the world. Major efforts have been made to increase energy efficiency in the United States. However, public policy has been missing the target. Why is that? What is the role of the policy maker in shaping economic regulations in the context of energy efficiency? Are the constraints on efficiency a result of consumer interests or producer interests? Past studies have focused on energy conservation as well as utility and transportation regulations on the US national level. However, this study investigates the cases of Texas and California, which have shown remarkable similarities in their state characteristics, and lead to a strong conclusion explaining the large gap in the states’ energy efficiency scores. This invites further questions about why exactly energy inefficiencies are not being tackled on the state level. The research executed in this study confirmed the hypothesis according to Interest Group and Economic Regulation Theory. Finding that the main constraints affecting energy efficiency in the United States today are due to the weighted influence that large energy producing and associated firms have on state policy makers and their constituencies. Therefore policy makers have detoured from the best path of near-term energy efficiency policy solutions in exchange for endorsement and financial donation of producer interest groups. |
| Supervisor | Goldthau. Andreas |
| Department | Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2011/dayringer_sarah.pdf |
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