 Utility rebates for ENERGY STAR appliances: Are they effective?Souvik Datta and Sumeet Gulati Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2014, vol. 68, issue 3, 480-506 Abstract: We estimate the impact of utility cash rebates on the market share of ENERGY STAR appliances by exploiting the variation in timing and size of rebates across US states. We find that a dollar increase in the population-weighted utility rebate raises the share of ENERGY STAR qualified clothes washers by 0.4%, but does not affect dishwasher and refrigerator shares. Using information on energy saved by an ENERGY STAR appliance and assuming a redemption rate of 40%, the cost per tonne of carbon saved is about $140 for the clothes washers rebate program. The corresponding cost of a megawatt hour saved, about $28, is lower than the estimated cost of building and operating an additional power plant and the average on-peak spot price. We conclude that the ENERGY STAR clothes washers rebate program is, on average, a cost-effective way for utilities to reduce electricity demand. Keywords: Eco-labelling; Energy efficiency; Appliances; Utility rebates; Carbon saving; Energy saving (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:68:y:2014:i:3:p:480-506 DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2014.09.003 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is currently edited by M.A. Cole, A. Lange, D.J. Phaneuf, D. Popp, M.J. Roberts, M.D. Smith, C. Timmins, Q. Weninger and A.J. Yates More articles in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management from Elsevier |
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