Market failures and barriers as a basis for clean energy policies

This paper provides compelling evidence that large-scale market failures an d barriers prevent consumers in the United States from obtaining energy ser vices at least cost. Assessments of numerous energy policies and programs s uggest that public interventions can overcome many of these market obstacle s. By articulating these barriers and reviewing the literature on ways of a ddressing them, this paper provides a strong justification for the policy p ortfolios that define the "Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future," a study co nducted by five National Laboratories. These scenarios are described in oth er papers published in this special issue of Energy Policy. (C) 2001 Elsevi er Science Ltd. All rights reserved.