Public purpose or private benefit?: the politics of energy conservation

Abstract

What makes energy conservation an interesting question in public policy? Outline of the book. Theories and themes: interventionist and non-interventionist states, policy networks and communities, the interdependence of policy formation and implementation, energy efficiency and energy conservation, energy market imperfections and barriers to energy saving, energy pricing, why are governments concerned about energy saving? Security of supply, improving economic efficiency, concern for low income households, environmental concerns, how governments intervene to promote energy saving energy policy and policy communities - the development of energy supply 1800-World War II, post-World War II energy policies - pile it high and sell it cheap, the 1973 oil crisis, the development if energy policy communities and networks, efforts to establish energy conservation programmes, energy saving and the gas and electricity industries, demand side management/least cost planning/integrated resource planning, liberalisation and privatisation, changing energy markets and the possible impact on energy conservation, the new environmental agenda of climate change the EU - a brief history of EU energy and environmental policy, carbon/energy tax, SAVE programme, the EU's role in the climate change negotiations post-Rio, the white paper on energy, gas and electricity market liberalisation, the rational planning directive Denmark - political and institutional background, energy market structure, development of energy policy in Denmark, government programmes to promote energy conservation, energy audit/heat survey scheme, heat planning, energy 2000 and energy 21, DSM in Denmark the Netherlands - political and institutional background, energy market structure, energy policy and development of energy conservation in the Netherlands, the national environmental policy plan, the environmental action plan of the energy distribution sectors, the role of combined heat and power(CHP), national environmental policy plan three the UK -political and institutional background, energy market structure, UK energy policy from World War II to 1973, energy policy and energy conservation since 1973, the energy conservation lobby and policy community, government programmes to promote energy saving, national energy action, electrical appliance efficiency, the energy saving trust, the home energy conservation act 1995, will the market deliver energy efficiency? the United States - political and institutional background, energy market structure, US energy policy since World War II, energy conservation programmes from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, the development of demand side management(DSM), the 1992 energy policy act, the Clinton administration raises and dashes the hopes of the environment lobby, the US position in the lead-up to Kyoto, energy market liberalisation, the prospects for energy services Australia - political and institutional background, energy market structure, developme