Does the stick make the carrot more attractive? State mandates and uptake of renewable heating technologies

Martin Achtnicht, Robert Germeshausen and Kathrine von Graevenitz

No 17-067, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the effect of the state-level renewable heating mandate for existing homes in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany's third largest federal state. The mandate requires homeowners to supply at least 10 % of their heat demand with renewable energy when they replace their existing heating system. To assess the impact of the renewable heating standard on the uptake of renewable heating systems, we use unique data on a federal government subsidy scheme and exploit geographic differences in state laws over time. We find no evidence of an effect of the mandate even after restricting distance to the state border and refining the data set through matching on population and building characteristics. These findings are unchanged, when we allow effects to vary across space or over time. While energy efficiency and renewable standards are often criticized for not being cost-effective, our results challenge the widespread view that a standard is nevertheless successful in achieving its policy goal.

Keywords: Technology diffusion; Building regulations; Subsidies; Renewable energy sources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H23 O33 Q4 Q48 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-reg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Journal Article: Does the stick make the carrot more attractive? State mandates and uptake of renewable heating technologies (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:17067

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