Overview of State Policies for Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Abstract

This paper introduces the major state-level regulations and policies for improving energy efficiency in buildings. The purpose of the review is to discuss the challenges and issues in policy implementation and the latest trend in adopting innovative instruments. The implementation of customer efficiency programs increasingly incorporates non-price instruments to encourage participation and deep savings. States pay attention to not only code adoption and update but also compliance and evaluation. Many states have adopted innovative policy instruments, including decoupling mechanisms and performance incentives to make energy efficiency a good business model for utilities, dynamic pricing to reduce consumption and peak load, flexible financing to provide incentives, and green labeling and benchmarking policies to increase information transparency. State governments continue to be the primary decision-makers for improving energy efficiency in buildings. Combined efforts on code/standard compliance and innovative policies are the leading strategy to promote energy efficiency.