Energy policies guide decisions about the production and consumption of energy, from taxes and regulation (such as building energy codes ) to subsidies and incentives.
Fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions must be drastically decreased rapidly for nations to break free from oil and gas import dependencies, stimulate economic growth, and alleviate poverty.
The United States
Energy policy in the United States encompasses energy production, distribution and consumption. It strives to balance short-term goals such as low costs to facilitate economic growth and foster US competitiveness with long-term objectives like social equity, environmental protection and national security.
Energy policies must consider health impacts as part of their considerations, such as climate change, strip mining, oil spills and air pollution that have negative impacts on human health. They must also consider any possible rises in energy prices which might further undermine consumers’ finances – particularly economically disadvantaged communities.
In 2021 and 2022, both President Biden and Congress introduced numerous laws to emphasize the urgency of climate change while strengthening clean energy sector. These laws designated significant funding towards energy projects, incentives, grid modernization projects, as well as setting an aggressive clean energy standard. As fossil fuel prices increase, so will demand for alternative sources.
Europe
Industrialized countries have seen considerable success in reducing CO2 production through energy conservation measures and rationalized energy use, but this success must continue and be supplemented by seeking suitable renewable replacement sources such as solar.
Energy security and supply reliability remain major challenges, compounded by reduced fossil fuel imports due to cuts from OPEC+ and the conflict in Ukraine (IEA 2020; McNally 2020). To ensure sustainability in energy consumption reduction strategies such as increasing efficiency or investing in renewables.
The bottom-up funded COMBI project seeks to conduct a quantitative evaluation of 21 End Use Energy Initiative actions across buildings, transport and industry by employing high-resolution stock models for fuels, electricity and heat (see Couder [47]). The analysis includes country-by-country comparison on target achievement based on National Emission Control Plans. The results will then be used in policy formulation in conjunction with midterm review of energy sector legislation as well as development of European Energy Agenda 2030-2040.
Japan
Japan’s energy policy places strong emphasis on “three Es plus S”, or economic efficiency, environmental sustainability and safety. Their 5th Strategic Energy Plan (SEP) calls for more diverse energy mix with greater proportions of renewables and nuclear power sources; energy self-sufficiency is another goal with Top Runner setting standards of energy efficiency standards for appliances and manufacturers.
Recent years have witnessed a dramatic surge in solar photovoltaic (PV) production in Japan due to generous feed-in tariffs. Unfortunately, however, community resistance to mega-solar projects has emerged and national regulations have since been updated to require social impact assessments on large energy developments.
Strong influencers in Japan’s climate/energy policy landscape include concerned bureaucracies, ruling party politicians in the LDP Shokozoku group and industry associations like Keidanren. Keidanren is an influential cross-sector peak business organization which influences policymaking processes at MITI/METI and ANRE; hence it is hard to anticipate how battle lines may shift as Japan advances towards its 2050 net-zero target.
China
Last year’s coal shortages underscore China’s top priority of energy security; therefore, their 14th Five Year Plan for “modernizing their energy system” provides an essential initial step toward this objective.
This plan details targets and instructions for local governments, setting goals that can only be accomplished by working together across jurisdictions. This acknowledges an issue often faced in China where its top-down system of governance provides some advantages but inhibits coordination when necessary.
China must ensure a successful transition by adhering to laws and standards outlined in its Five Year Plans regarding energy consumption by local governments, decoupling energy use from economic growth, and limiting total environmental costs. To do this, three obstacles must be addressed – institutional, economic and environmental. In doing so will require massive shifts of resources as well as innovations that increase resource productivity and energy efficiency.