Policy Inducement Effects in Energy Efficiency Technologies. An Empirical Analysis of the Residential Sector - Green Energy and Efficiency: An Economic Perspective - page 200

Fig. 2 Energy intensity trends in the residential sector 1990 - 2010 (1990 = 100). Source own

work based on IEA [ 34 ], World Bank [ 79 ]

countries such as Japan, the United Kingdom and the US adopting more stringent,
more pervasive policies only recently, while others such as Denmark, Finland and
Germany have introduced a relatively smaller number of policies, but adopted them
in the early 1990s. It is also worth noting that the effectiveness of environmental
policies is closely related to the instruments adopted. Several differences arise when
comparing for instance command and control with market-based instruments [ 6 ],
with the latter being considered as cost effective as well as more suitable for
pushing technological change [ 71 ].
As a matter of fact, this eld of analysis requires a complex framework, where

several driving factors may help to explain divergent performance trends, such as
institutional and technological capabilities, as well as the more general innovation
system at country level. It is also true that gains in resource ef

ciency must be
strictly related to technological innovation, encouraging a large number of scienti c

contributions in an attempt to disentangle this issue.

2.2 Eco-innovation and Energy Ef ciency

Broadly speaking, reduction of the overall residential energy demand can be
thought of as a function of the level of EE, which in turns depends on the avail-
ability and adoption of new EE technologies such as intelligent building design and
high-performance buildings including highly ef cient heating, ventilation and water

heating systems. In this regard the dynamics of the technologies used in the resi-
dential sector are a key issue.
Considering the strong linkage between the energy system, the environment and
innovation processes, EE can be included in the broader framework of eco-inno-
vation [ 47 , 61 ]. In this chapter we are particularly interested in understanding how
public policies may induce innovation efforts at country level. An examination
of

the growing literature on different technological environmental domains