Are voluntary agreements an alternative policy to efficiency standards for transforming the electrical appliances market?

Panel: Panel 1: Assessment of Energy Efficiency Policy

Author:
Philippe MENANTEAU, Institute for Energy Policy and Economics (CNRS / Université de Grenoble)

Abstract

Without reinforced energy saving policies, residential consumption of electricity will rise sharply over the next twenty years, due in particular to the expected increase in non-thermal uses of electricity. The main problem is not a lack of efficient technologies, which are already available for electrical appliances, but the slow diffusion of existing technologies due to the weakness of the price signal and purchasing behaviour of consumers.

In association with energy labelling, efficiency standards have proved to be very effective in stimulating technological progress and organising market transformation. But standards also suffer from very long delays and problems of implementation because of the resistance of the industrial sector.

For manufacturers, similar results could be obtained more easily and more rapidly with voluntary agreements because they introduce flexibility margins into the process of achieving commitments.

In this paper, the particular interest of voluntary agreements for improving energy efficiency in the domestic appliances sector is analysed. We conclude that voluntary agreements may be effective tools for attaining market transformation objectives in certain conditions. But the alternative of regulatory measures must remain credible and threatening if the impact of voluntary agreements on efficiency improvement is to be really significant.