Energy policies are the actions governments take to affect the demand for energy as well as the supply of it. These actions include the ways in which governments cope with energy supply disruptions and their efforts to influence energy consumption and economic growth.

The energy policies of the United States government have often worked at cross purposes, both stimulating and suppressing demand. Taxes are perhaps the most important kind of energy policy, and energy taxes are much lower in the U. S. than in other countries. This is partially responsible for the fact that energy consumption per capita is higher than elsewhere, and there is less incentive to invest in conservation or alternative technologies. Following the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the federal government instituted price controls which kept energy prices lower than they would otherwise have been, thereby stimulating consumption. Yet the government also instituted policies at...