Master Resource highlights a point that should be repeated early and often:
Energy efficiency and energy savings are considered to be
intrinsically good. Politicians of all stripes sing the praises of
less-is-more. Only one problem: this view is simplistic and wrong from
the economic point of view.
...
[I]f using less energy, or more
accurately, spending less money on energy, meant that the person had to
invest in other equipment whose cost more than offset the savings, then
even though energy efficiency might be enhanced, economic efficiency
would be reduced. If the opposite were the case, mandates and special
incentives programs would not have to be put in place to promote energy
efficiency.
But the government uses all kinds of mandates and tax incentives because it believes that people are too stupid to make the "right" choices.
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