Assessment of New Energy Use Policy in Land Use Planning: What Can We Learn from California Energy Policy Case

This study mainly focuses on how energy policies can improve the efficiency of new energy use. More specifically, this research addresses three major questions: 1) To what extent does California local planning addresses the new energy policies? 2) Which policies have local jurisdictions adopted to directly improve new energy use, and which strategies have received the most and least attention? 3) What methods or models can other place learn from California? In the United States, California has established a successful new energy use system. This paper uses California as a study area. California has 58 counties. The study sample is 37 counties which have energy plans and have updated them at least once. To systematically evaluate new energy use in these counties, the author examines six policies from energy and general plans. After that, the paper describes the characteristics of the six policies. Then discussion part may provide some helpful suggestions. In addition, these six policies could be adopted in other places; the suggested location is Guangdong Province in China, which has similarities with California and is deficient in adoption of new energy plans and new energy use.