This study examines the comparative effectiveness of two important proposed solutions to climate change—energy efficiency improvement and the development and use of renewable energy sources. We focus specifically on their impacts on carbon dioxide emissions by conducting fixed effects regression analysis of panel data pertaining to U.S. states. The analysis reveals a negative relationship between both remedies and carbon dioxide emissions. Although the effects of these potential solutions are statistically equivalent, renewable energy production has a slight edge. Reflecting upon these findings and the larger environmental problem, we caution against exclusive reliance on efficiency improvement and renewable energy to the neglect of other important actions, such as lifestyle modifications. A broad range of social changes, which incorporate the remedies investigated in this paper, are needed to limit long-term global temperature increases to the desired level.

本研究考察了两个重要的气候变化解决方案——提高能源效率以及开发和使用可再生能源的比较有效性。我们通过对与美国各州有关的面板数据进行固定效应回归分析，特别关注它们对二氧化碳排放的影响。分析揭示了补救措施和二氧化碳排放量之间的负相关关系。尽管这些潜在解决方案的效果在统计上是等效的，但可再生能源生产略有优势。考虑到这些发现和更大的环境问题，我们告诫不要仅仅依赖提高效率和可再生能源而忽视其他重要的行动，例如改变生活方式。广泛的社会变革，