Dual mandates or dueling mandates : federal energy efficiency programs and the Recovery Act

Abstract

In February 2009, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law, providing billions of dollars in funding for federal energy efficiency programs. ARRA represented different things to different people and the programs it funds are being used to accomplish more than just the economic stimulus and job creation goals that led to its signing. The Obama Administration has embarked on a journey to develop a self-sustaining energy efficiency retrofit market. Doing so will require more than meeting the quantitative goals of current federal energy efficiency programs. Overcoming the barriers of implementing large-scale programs run by the federal government will not necessarily abolish the barriers to scaling up a private sector market for energy efficiency. The current wave of investment in energy efficiency can be viewed as an opportunity to learn about how and why we are succeeding in some places and not in others, so as to better inform the design of future programs and policies.