Green Energy Labelling - Green Energy and Efficiency: An Economic Perspective - page 148

Table 13 Own and cross elasticities of demand
QDBS (Income elasticity = 0.4)

Price elasticity of demand own O/O cross O/L own for ' L ' cross L/O

0.5 0.1000 2.0437 1.6437

− −

− 0.75

0.3500 6.1531 5.7531

−

− 1 0.6000 − 10.2625 9.8625

1.25 0.8500 14.3719 13.9719

− −

As can be seen, the own elasticity of demand for high energy-ef ciency dish-

washers ranges from 2.0 to 14.3. Moreover, the impact of a one per cent change

− −

in the price of low-ef ciency dishwashers on the demand for high energy-ef ciency

dishwashers ranges from 1.6 to 13.9.

5 Conclusions

Energy labelling can be considered as a powerful tool for promoting energy ef -

ciency. In this sense, different sorts of labelling — endorsement or comparison,

voluntary or mandatory can be used at the same time for different products,

although care must be taken not to confuse or tire consumers. Moreover, the design,
implementation and management of a label is an important factor of the success of
the label, inter alia.
On the other hand, the hedonic pricing analysis presented above has demon-
strated that consumers value energy efciency in the appliance market, but that the
differences between high-ef

—

ciency classes and class A are not very great. This may
be because consumers feel that an appliance with class A is ef cient enough, since

this was the best class a year ago. Given that the subsidy paid in Spain

s Plan
Renove is much higher than the price premiums estimated, it may be held that this
policy is not being ef

'

cient and should be revised.
Finally, the own and cross price elasticities of demand estimated show that there
is still a way of promoting nancial or scal incentive policies to encourage the

purchase of high-ef ciency domestic appliances.

Acknowledgments The research described in this article has had the support of the following
research projects: ' Consumer Behaviour for a Low Carbon Economy ' (COBELOC) ECO2010-

21264, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
' Policies to Support Energy Ef ciency: taxes vs. subsidies (PAEE) ' funded by theFundaci ó n
Ram ó n Areces. X Concurso Nacional para la Adjudicaci ó n de Ayudas a la Investigaci ó nen
Ciencias Sociales.