A Policy Analytical Approach of Assessing Energy Efficiency Standards and Labeling for Appliances

Abstract: China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of household appliances, lighting and commercial equipment. China first adopted Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) in 1989. By 2013, China has developed and implemented 52 Energy Efficiency Standards (EES) and 28 mandatory energy labels for a wide range of domestic, commercial, and selected industrial equipment. However, despite of the large number of standards issued, big challenges remain with how to ensure the standards keep up with the dynamic evolvement of technologies and appliance market after they enter effect.The current policy analysis methods adopted by the policy makers primarily focuses on standards making process and very limited attentions were paid on impact assessment and ex-post evaluation of standards and labeling systems, hence the effectiveness of active Energy Efficiency Standards has not been assessed timely and comprehensively. One major barrier of this is the lacking of assessment methods and market data.This thesis intends to tackle the above issues by developing a new policy analysis approach that can be used to assess the impact of energy efficiency standards and labeling with market data. This approach adopts a comprehensive analysis method that comprises three components: (1) Analysis of market data; (2) Quantification of energy savings potential; and (3) Benchmarking China’s EE standards to those of peer economies around the world. This integrated approach leads to three independent but complementary studies that provide evidence-based findings and policy recommendations for the improvement of China’s appliance standards.