Is a Green Building an Energy Efficient Building?

Is a “green building” an energy efficient building? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is “not necessarily.” As the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) notes, green building rating systems are flexible, and buildings with poor energy efficiency may be certified “green.” Accordingly, how do green rating systems address energy efficiency and what rating system is best suited to controlling operating costs in affordable housing projects? To answer this question, I will examine three rating systems commonly associated with green building and affordable housing. First, I will examine the U.S. Green Building Council’s (“USGBC”) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”) rating system, which is arguably the industry standard for green building. Second, I will look at Enterprise Incorporated’s Green Communities program. The Green Communities program is a private sector initiative dedicated to providing funding for green affordable housing. Third and finally, I will discuss the federal government’s Energy Star program

International Carbon Emissions Trading and Strategic Incentives to Subsidize Green Energy

This paper examines strategic incentives to subsidize green energy in a group of countries that operates an international carbon emissions trading scheme. Welfare-maximizing national governments have the option to discriminate against energy from fossil fuels by subsidizing green energy, although in our model green energy promotion is not efficiency enhancing. The cases of small and large countries turn out to exhibit significantly differences. While small countries refrain from subsidizing green energy and thus implement the efficient allocation, large permit-importing countries subsidize green energy in order to influence the permit price in their favor.emissions trading, black energy, green energy, energy subsidies

The Appeal of the Green Deal: Empirical Evidence for the Influence of Energy Efficiency Policy on Renovating Homeowners

The Green Deal is a major new energy policy designed to support the diffusion of energy efficiency measures in UK homes. This paper provides one of the first empirical examinations of the Green Deal’s success in influencing homeowners’ renovation decisions. Using a repeated measures design in which households were questioned before and after the Green Deal’s launch in January 2013, we assess the policy’s success in raising awareness of energy efficiency. In particular, we test the effectiveness of the Green Deal’s positioning to overcome barriers to renovation among homeowners already interested in or considering energy efficiency measures. Using the innovation decision process (Rogers 2003) as a conceptual framing of the renovation decision process, we examine whether new information on energy efficiency provided by the Green Deal strengthened intentions and its antecedents. We find that (1) energy efficiency is of potential appeal to all renovators regardless of their attitudes about energy efficiency, (2) energy efficiency opportunities need to be identified in the early stages of renovation when homeowners are thinking about ways to improve their home, and (3) homeowners’ intentions towards energy efficiency are weakened by uncertainty about financial benefits, helping to explain the relatively slow uptake of the Green Deal to-date

Energy for a green economy

The aim of this chapter is to analyze possibilities of implementation of a green economy in EU countries in the context of climate and energy policy. The main aims of green economy are: to reduce greenhouse gases, to improve the efficiency of the use of resources, to protect ecosystems and biodiversity, to develop green sectors. Achieving these targets can be supported by the use of renewable energy sources.Wydanie współfinansowane ze środków Miasta Łodzi w ramach zadania “Współpraca z wyższymi uczelniami” – umowa 100/03/201

Growing Ohio's Green Energy Economy

Provides an overview of the state's solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal energy and fuel cell industries and assesses their economic contribution and potential for growth. Recommends policies to encourage further green energy development and job creation