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Re: Can Efficient Devices Erode Efficient Behaviors?
2009-07-27 19:44:23 UTC
It's disappointing to see people disparaging resource efficiency - do we really believe that using resources wastefully is better than using them efficiently? There is a lot of rubbish written about the rebound effect, suggesting that efficiency gains lead to more resource use than the starting point - the so-called 'superbounce' theory. Why speculate about this when there is plenty of quantitative analysis - read Energy Policy for example - they did a whole edition that focused on this issue in 2000 - see http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V2W-4090S0W-3/2/f5019fd9a329ba590a238e3be3cd3029 - abstract only for free, unfortunately.
The amount of rebound is a function of a) the underlying demand for energy (or other resource) services and b) the income effect and any policies designed to influence this. If you improve the efficiency of a cold house, for example, by insulating it, you don't get energy savings you get a warmer house - ie, more energy services. By the way, you also get improved health outcomes. But if you provide additional insulation for a house that is already warm, you get energy savings not an even warmer house. People don't want to live in a sauna.
In the second case but not the first, the homeowner may now have more money to spend (due to energy cost savings), but remember that they may have to finance the insulation, and only after that do they have a real increase in disposable income, some of which might be used to purchase additional goods and services that use energy - leading to a rebound effect. If you increase energy taxes, or if you price carbon, you can take away that income effect altogether. On average, the literature suggests around 20% of the energy savings will be taken up by a rebound effect - although there are plenty of higher and lower examples.
The Jevons paradox is no paradox at all - it's called economic growth. If you want to focus on living sustainably, that's your target, not resource efficiency. In a sustainable, steady-state economy, we will need to use resources as efficiently as possible, as one of an integrated set of sustainable behaviours.
PhilĀ Harrington
Australia
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