Leo Raudys, CEO and founder of the online e-waste recycling company Riduvit.com, believes that EPA regulations within the energy industry will lead to cleaner, cheaper and more reliable power. He explains here why he believes this area will see positive change from the current circumstances, where the cost of implementing measures tends to exceed their benefits many times over.

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Why upcoming EPA rules can ignite the energy efficiency industry

If past is prologue, we are about to embark on a transformation in the energy industry that will deliver cleaner, more reliable and cheaper power. What may surprise some is the way this will happen: through environmental regulation.

It’s an old maxim among environmental regulators that new rules are always expected to be more expensive than they actually prove to be. The data back up this view. When it comes to EPA regulations, particularly air quality regulations, the benefits almost always exceed the costs of implementation, often by a wide margin. In 2011, the Office of Management and Budget reported to Congress (PDF) that the benefits of air quality regulations were, at minimum, four times the costs. At the high end of the range, OMB estimated the benefits to be as much as $550 billion, compared to a cost of roughly $29 billion.

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