Publish Date: August 23, 2016
In the past decade, energy efficiency mandates—often called energy efficiency resource standards (EERS)—have been the primary policy tool for driving investment in energy efficiency. With many of these policies approaching their target dates and needing to be extended or replaced in order to continue capitalizing on their cost-saving benefits, some state officials are looking for ways to maintain market certainty for energy efficiency that can work in conjunction with, or independently from, an EERS.
In this report, the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) and AEE Institute have outlined 20 policies that states can adopt to promote energy efficiency that do not require a mandate. The 20 policy approaches identified in the paper are broken into five categories: regulatory mechanisms, financing programs, technology-specific policies, administration of existing programs, and investment in low-income communities. Each policy is described in detail, and model policies and programs drawn from states across the country are provided.
This report is the second in a series of four papers produced by CNEE analyzing policies for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Please complete the form to download the report.