This is the final post in a three-part series on understanding and increasing investments in energy efficiency by businesses and individuals. In the first post, we estimated these US investments total about $60-115 billion per year. In the second post, we discussed what motivates many households and businesses to invest in energy efficiency. This post builds on the first two and discusses approaches that could increase such investments in the future.

 

No more than one-fourth of households and businesses, on average, adopt efficiency measures (see the second post). If this number seems surprisingly small to you, we agree. These upgrades save money, improve health, and increase productivity, so why aren't investment levels much higher?

 

Based on her surveys, Suzanne Shelton suggests there are four key reasons: (1) most people prefer to spend money on aesthetics; (2) homes and buildings are meeting expectations (e.g., 79% of business decision-makers and 47% of homeowners think they are already efficient); (3) some efficiency home improvements don't save money (e.g., payback periods may be long or non-existent); and (4) even if they care about the environment, they are not prioritizing homes and buildings, even though homes and buildings often have the largest impact on their energy use...

 

To continue reading the blog post, visit: http://aceee.org/blog/2017/08/how-can-we-increase-energy-efficiency 

 

About ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors. For information about ACEEE and its programs, publications, and conferences, visit aceee.org