Energy Efficiency
Policymakers can encourage consumers to use energy more efficiently using local, state, or federal programs designed to incentivize or discourage certain patterns of energy use. RFF experts are examining these policies to help lawmakers better understand their effectiveness and close the existing energy efficiency gap.
Sizing Up the Energy-Efficiency Gap
Learn why more people aren't making energy-efficiency improvements.
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Report — Oct 29, 2020
Building Performance Standards: Lessons from Carbon Policy
This report assesses the various tradeoffs and challenges of designing building performance standards (BPS) in order to facilitate compliance and promote cost-effectiveness.
Working Paper — Sep 11, 2020
Does Energy Star Certification Reduce Energy Use in Commercial Buildings?
A new paper finds evidence that the Energy Star program is likely identifying buildings that are already energy-efficient, rather than persuading building owners to make efficiency upgrades.
Explainer — Jun 17, 2020
Energy Efficiency 101
The basics of improving energy efficiency, from how it can reduce energy use and mitigate climate change to the policies in place to encourage people to invest in energy-efficient products.
Report — Oct 29, 2020
Building Performance Standards: Lessons from Carbon Policy
This report assesses the various tradeoffs and challenges of designing building performance standards (BPS) in order to facilitate compliance and promote cost-effectiveness.
Working Paper — Sep 11, 2020
Does Energy Star Certification Reduce Energy Use in Commercial Buildings?
A new paper finds evidence that the Energy Star program is likely identifying buildings that are already energy-efficient, rather than persuading building owners to make efficiency upgrades.
Explainer — Jun 17, 2020
Energy Efficiency 101
The basics of improving energy efficiency, from how it can reduce energy use and mitigate climate change to the policies in place to encourage people to invest in energy-efficient products.
RFF Live — Apr 30, 2020
Net Zero by 2070: Decarbonizing Global Industry
Assessing the range of technologies and policy interventions available to enable industrial decarbonization
Workshop/Seminar — Nov 4, 2014
Energy Efficiency in EPA's Clean Power Plan: Using Building Block #4 to Set and Meet Emissions Goals
November 4, 2014: This webinar, co-hosted by Resources for the Future and the Electric Power Research Institute, addressed aspects of the opportunities and challenges for energy efficiency under EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
Workshop/Seminar — Dec 12, 2013
Does Asymmetric Information in Residential Rental Markets Lead to an Energy Efficiency Gap?
Press Release — Apr 1, 2020
Major New Study Charts Course to Net Zero Industrial Emissions
Interdisciplinary team assesses technology and policy strategies for industrial decarbonization.
Media Highlight — Mar 27, 2017
Trump Wants to Cut Programs That Help Buildings Save Energy. This New Study Says They Work.
Media Highlight — May 4, 2016
U.S. Cities Taking Lead in Green Building
Resources Radio — May 26, 2020
Decarbonizing Global Industry, with Jeffrey Rissman
Jeffrey Rissman explores ways to decarbonize industry, contending that investment in research, technology, and policy is vital to meet climate goals.
Common Resources — Apr 29, 2020
Energy Service Subscriptions Could Pave the Way to an Electrified Economy
In a new working paper, RFF scholars assess the benefits of utilizing the energy-as-a-service model to expand electrification, along with the barriers that stand in the way of wider deployment.
Resources Radio — Jan 1, 2019
Resources Radio: Energy Inefficiency, with RFF's Joshua Blonz
Host Daniel Raimi and Joshua Blonz, a postdoctoral fellow at RFF, talk about his recent research on an energy efficiency program in California, the...