IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/kitiip/56.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Optimal investment in energy efficiency as a problem of growth rate maximisation

Author

Listed:
  • Britto, Anthony
  • Dehler-Holland, Joris
  • Fichtner, Wolf

Abstract

Despite the vast literature on the energy-efficiency gap, there is a general dearth of investment models which incorporate the consumer's temporal freedom in the investment decision. Focusing on the building sector, we formulate optimal investment in energy efficiency as a problem of wealth growth-rate maximisation under uncertainty, subject to the diminishing marginal utility of retrofitting. The resulting model provides an unambiguous answer to the question of how much, and at what point in time, consumers with given wealth dynamics and parameters should invest in energy-efficiency measures for their particular dwelling. We treat in detail two foundational wealth dynamics: consumers who solely earn a fixed income, and those whose wealth grows multiplicatively. The differences in decision-making between these cases is seen to be substantial, with the latter group exhibiting further significant heterogeneity. All of this has profound implications for the social planner: on the one hand, we show how he must work harder to influence wealthier consumers; on the other, the model provides a methodology for crafting highly targeted policy interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Britto, Anthony & Dehler-Holland, Joris & Fichtner, Wolf, 2021. "Optimal investment in energy efficiency as a problem of growth rate maximisation," Working Paper Series in Production and Energy 56, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:kitiip:56
    DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000130464
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/232035/1/1751344509.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5445/IR/1000130464?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert McDonald & Daniel Siegel, 1986. "The Value of Waiting to Invest," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(4), pages 707-727.
    2. Jaffe, Adam B. & Stavins, Robert N., 1994. "The energy-efficiency gap What does it mean?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 804-810, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aleksander Jakimowicz & Daniel Rzeczkowski, 2023. "Contact Zones in the Energy Transition: A Transdisciplinary Complex Problem," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-48, April.
    2. Alexander Adamou & Yonatan Berman & Diomides Mavroyiannis & Ole Peters, 2021. "Microfoundations of Discounting," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 257-272, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. LOFGREN Asa & MILLOCK Katrin & NAUGES Céline, 2007. "Using Ex Post Data to Estimate the Hurdle Rate of Abatement Investments - An application to the Swedish Pulp and Paper Industry and Energy Sector," LERNA Working Papers 07.06.227, LERNA, University of Toulouse.
    2. Schleich, Joachim & Gassmann, Xavier & Faure, Corinne & Meissner, Thomas, 2016. "Making the implicit explicit: A look inside the implicit discount rate," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 321-331.
    3. Åsa Löfgren & Katrin Millock & Céline Nauges, 2008. "Using ex post data to estimate the hurdle rate of abatement investments - an application to sulfur emissions from the Swedish pulp and paper industry and energy sector," Post-Print halshs-00261523, HAL.
    4. Basher, Syed Abul & Raboy, David G., 2018. "The misuse of net present value in energy efficiency standards," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 218-225.
    5. Löfgren, Åsa & Millock, Katrin & Nauges, Céline, 2008. "The effect of uncertainty on pollution abatement investments: Measuring hurdle rates for Swedish industry," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 475-491, December.
    6. Schleich, Joachim & Gruber, Edelgard, 2008. "Beyond case studies: Barriers to energy efficiency in commerce and the services sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 449-464, March.
    7. Schleich, Joachim, 2009. "Barriers to energy efficiency: A comparison across the German commercial and services sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 2150-2159, May.
    8. Frondel, Manuel & Lohmann, Steffen, 2011. "The European Commission's light bulb decree: Another costly regulation?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3177-3181, June.
    9. Heather Klemick & Elizabeth Kopits & Ann Wolverton, 2015. "The Energy Efficiency Paradox: A Case Study of Supermarket Refrigeration System Investment Decisions," NCEE Working Paper Series 201503, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Jun 2015.
    10. repec:zbw:rwirep:0245 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Manuel Frondel & Steffen Lohmann, 2011. "The European Commission‘s Light Bulb Decree: Another Costly Regulation?," Ruhr Economic Papers 0245, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    12. Oscar Gutiérrez & Francisco Ruiz-Aliseda, 2011. "Real options with unknown-date events," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 171-198, May.
    13. Martin, Ralf & Muûls, Mirabelle & de Preux, Laure B. & Wagner, Ulrich J., 2012. "Anatomy of a paradox: Management practices, organizational structure and energy efficiency," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 208-223.
    14. Arve, Malin & Zwart, Gijsbert, 2023. "Optimal procurement and investment in new technologies under uncertainty," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    15. Helen Weeds, 2002. "Strategic Delay in a Real Options Model of R&D Competition," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(3), pages 729-747.
    16. Wong, Kit Pong, 2011. "Progressive taxation and the intensity and timing of investment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 100-108, January.
    17. Vitaliy Roud & Thomas Wolfgang Thurner, 2018. "The Influence of State‐Ownership on Eco‐Innovations in Russian Manufacturing Firms," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(5), pages 1213-1227, October.
    18. Todd D. Gerarden & Richard G. Newell & Robert N. Stavins, 2017. "Assessing the Energy-Efficiency Gap," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1486-1525, December.
    19. Apriani Soepardi & Pratikto Pratikto & Purnomo Budi Santoso & Ishardita Pambudi Tama & Patrik Thollander, 2018. "Linking of Barriers to Energy Efficiency Improvement in Indonesia’s Steel Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, January.
    20. Estrada, Isabel & de la Fuente, Gabriel & Martín-Cruz, Natalia, 2010. "Technological joint venture formation under the real options approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1185-1197, November.
    21. Tan Wang & Tony S. Wirjanto, 2016. "Risk Aversion, Uncertainty, Unemployment Insurance Benefit and Duration of "Wait" Unemployment," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 17(1), pages 1-34, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    the energy-efficiency gap; energetic building retrofits; diminishing marginal utility; investment under uncertainty; growth-rate maximisation; social planning; retrofit incentives;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D15 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:kitiip:56. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.iip.kit.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.