In Boston to attend a workshop evaluating the energy efficiency gap

The energy efficiency gap refers to the difference between the optimal and actual level of energy consumption. Why don’t people invest in energy saving initiatives when it would benefit both the individual and society?

I’m attending a research workshop conducted by the Duke University Energy Initiative and the Harvard Environmental Economics Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government called “Evaluating the energy efficiency gap“.

Answers to the follow questions are being discussed:

  • Are product market offerings and pricing economically efficient?
  • Are energy operating costs inefficiently priced and/or understood?
  • Are product market offerings and pricing economically efficient?
  • Are product choices cost-minimizing in present-value terms?

The output of the workshop will be a monograph due to be finished in 2014.