Matrices of interaction between policy measures on household energy efficiency in EU-countries

P.G.M. Boonekamp, ECN

Keywords

Policy measures, energy savings, interaction, qualitative, households

Abstract

Starting from the conditions for a successful implementation of saving options a general framework has been developed to investigate possible interactions in sets of energy policy measures. Interaction regards the influence of one measure on the saving effect of another measure. A procedure is presented to construct a matrix for all combinations of measures, with each cell containing qualitative information on the strength and type of interaction: overlapping, reinforcing or independent of each other. For policy measures, aimed at households in the Netherlands, a detailed analysis has been executed for the period 1990-2003. The method has also been applied to households in the other EU-15 countries, as part of the Odyssee/MURE-project on energy indicators and policy evaluation. The type and strength of interactions, found for each country from 1990 on, have been compared and analysed. From the substantial differences in the choice of policy measures indications of the effectiveness of saving policy follow. Also a relation between the number of policy measures and the amount of overlap between different policy measures could be seen.