Energy-Efficiency Program Evaluations: Opportunities for Learning and Inputs to Incentive Mechanisms

RFF (Resources for the Future) Discussion Paper 10-16

39 Pages Posted: 18 Apr 2010 Last revised: 19 Jun 2010

See all articles by Noah Kaufman

Noah Kaufman

World Resources Institute

Karen L. Palmer

Resources for the Future

Date Written: April 14, 2010

Abstract

We analyze the evaluations of California energy-efficiency programs to assess the effectiveness of these evaluations in: 1) improving our understanding of their performance and 2) providing a check on utility incentives to overstate energy savings. We find that third-party evaluations are useful tools to achieve both ends because the programs largely did not meet their energy-savings projections, and the utility-reported savings estimates are systematically higher than the evaluated savings estimates. We also find evidence that the choice of the third-party evaluator was influential in determining the estimate of evaluated savings.

Keywords: energy efficiency, third-party evaluation, energy-savings measurement

JEL Classification: L94, L95, L51

Suggested Citation

Kaufman, Noah and Palmer, Karen, Energy-Efficiency Program Evaluations: Opportunities for Learning and Inputs to Incentive Mechanisms (April 14, 2010). RFF (Resources for the Future) Discussion Paper 10-16, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1589673 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1589673

Noah Kaufman

World Resources Institute ( email )

10 G Street NE Suite 800
Washington, DC 20002
United States

Karen Palmer (Contact Author)

Resources for the Future ( email )

1616 P Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
United States

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