Evaluating the Energy Returns of Investment-Based Incentive Programs: The Case of Oregon's Business Energy Tax Credits
| dc.contributor.author | Horan, Kevin | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2012-03-02T02:02:57Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2012-03-02T02:02:57Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2011-09 | |
| dc.description | x, 59 p. | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Governments around the world provide financial incentives to encourage renewable energy generation and energy conservation. The primary goals of these efforts are to mitigate climate change and improve long-term energy independence by reducing reliance on fossil fuels. The consensus in the energy incentive literature is that performance-based incentives, which fund energy output, are more cost efficient than investment-based incentives, which fund capital input. This thesis uses a 30-year case study of Oregon's Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC) program to argue that investment-based energy incentives are moderately cost efficient relative to other state performance-based incentives and can be an effective driver of clean energy deployment. However, this analysis also finds that there are significant opportunities to improve the cost efficiency of investment-based energy incentive programs by targeting least cost projects. Namely, 50% of the first year kilowatt-hour electricity returns of the BETC program could have been achieved at 10% of the cost. These lessons from historical BETC spending should guide policymakers, NGO.s, and businesses who aim to make targeted use of fiscally-constrained energy incentive programs. | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Committee in charge: Laura Leete, Chair; Ron Mitchell, Member; Grant Jacobsen, Member | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1794/11992 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
| dc.publisher | University of Oregon | en_US |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | University of Oregon theses, Environmental Studies Program, M.A., 2011; | |
| dc.rights | rights_reserved | en_US |
| dc.subject | Public policy | en_US |
| dc.subject | Environmental studies | en_US |
| dc.subject | Health and environmental sciences | en_US |
| dc.subject | Social sciences | en_US |
| dc.subject | Cost efficiency | en_US |
| dc.subject | Effectiveness | en_US |
| dc.subject | Electricity | en_US |
| dc.subject | Energy policy | en_US |
| dc.subject | Financial incentives | en_US |
| dc.subject | Tax credits -- Oregon | en_US |
| dc.subject | Energy tax credits -- Oregon | |
| dc.title | Evaluating the Energy Returns of Investment-Based Incentive Programs: The Case of Oregon's Business Energy Tax Credits | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |