Energy Conservation More Effective With Rebound Policy

By J. Bergh. 2011

288 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This article sketches the problem of indirect energy use effects, also known as rebound, of energy conservation. There is widespread support for energy conservation, especially when it is voluntary, as this seems a cheap way to realize environmental and energy-climate goals. However, this overlooks the phenomenon of rebound. The topic of energy rebound has mainly attracted attention from energy analysts, but has been surprisingly neglected in environmental economics, even though economists generally are concerned with indirect or economy-wide impacts of technical change and policies. This paper presents definitions and interpretations of energy and environmental rebound, as well as four fundamental reasons for the existence of the rebound phenomenon. It further offers the most complete list of rebound pathways or mechanisms available in the literature. In addition, it discusses empirical estimates of rebound and addresses the implications of uncertainties and difficulties in assessing rebound. Suggestions are offered for strategies and public policies to contain rebound. It is advised that rebound evaluation is an essential part of environmental policy and project assessments. As opposed to earlier studies, this paper stresses the relevance of the distinction between energy conservation resulting from autonomous demand changes and from efficiency improvements in technology/equipment. In addition, it argues that rebound is especially relevant for developing countries.

Subfields: Environmental Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/24759b82fb7adde0f71959f7d2ee1755f31db00c

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In Environmental Engineering

In Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

Citations in the corpus

How to deal with the rebound effect? A policy-oriented approach (2016, background): “As van den Bergh (2011) notes, however, rebound mitigation policies are particularly relevant in developing countries, for instance, because of the relative high costs of energy or the lack of saturation of consumption levels.”
The foundations of the environmental rebound effect and its contribution towards a general framework (2016, background): “…420 Moreover, some scholars argue that conservation decisions (reduced consumption) and consumption 421 shifts can also lead to rebound effects, arguing that the economic mechanisms derived from cost-422 saving measures would be comparable (Chitnis et al., 2014; Murray, 2013; van den Bergh, 2011).”
“Rebound” Effects from Increased Energy Efficiency: A Time to Pause and Reflect (2013, background): “Van den Bergh (2011) also raises a fundamental issue in terms of whether economic understanding of energy use and efﬁciency is sufﬁcient to properly identify and understand the problem.”
Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for U.S. households with input–output analysis Part 1: Theoretical framework (2013, background): “Van den Bergh (2011) provides a comprehensive taxonomyof14mechanismsfortheenergyef ﬁ ciencyreboundeffect.”
Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for U.S. households with input-output analysis. Part 2: Simulation (2013, background): “Van den bergh (2011) argues that emission trading schemes, which cap energy consumption and emissions, are better than carbon taxes given the possibility of rebound effects.”
Consumer End-Use Energy Efficiency and Rebound Effects (2014, background): “Van den Bergh J. 2011.”
Carbon pricing in climate policy: seven reasons, complementary instruments, and political economy considerations (2017, background): “Compared to other policy instruments, opportunities for such rebound effect are limited if carbon pricing is in place, because it is a systems approach that reduces rebound consistently across all carbonintensive goods and technologies.(21) Such pricing would discourage money savings due to energy c”