The Romney Camp's Take on Energy Efficiency

Consider this Romneyism: "Energy efficiency is a solution looking for a problem... if it saved money, people would do it on their own." (Source)

The assumption that consumers make "rational decisions" relies on an unstated assumption, to wit: the consumer has complete custody of every step in the decision-making process. This means that the consumer (1) detects some lapse of utility, (2)