Rebound Effects
12.49
2013
TML investigated the rebound effect at the Flemish level, explaining and illustrating the concept with two case studies on transport and energy. The findings show that efficiency gains in Flanders, such as teleworking and improvements in petrochemicals, can lead to additional energy consumption, complicating the achievement of energy and environmental objectives.
In this project, we investigated how the rebound effect plays out at the Flemish level. First, we explained the concept of the rebound effect in a reasoned and structured way and provided examples. Then we illustrated the rebound effect at the Flemish level using two cases (one on transport and one on energy).
The concept of the rebound effect is best explained by means of an example. Suppose that the use of additional insulation, with unchanged behaviour, leads to an energy saving of 20%. We speak of a rebound effect if the actual saving is smaller or larger than this 20%. The gain in efficiency creates a saving that leads to a behavioural change, namely additional consumption.
Rebound effects or behavioural changes play a role both directly (via extra consumption of energy or environmental goods) and indirectly (via extra consumption of other goods). The latter ultimately cause additional consumption of energy or environmental goods. In addition, there are broad economic effects that affect the whole economy. These play a particular role for producers, as they produce intermediate products for other producers. A price drop for an intermediate product translates into many other final (or other intermediate) products. In this way, the price drop finds its way throughout the economy, resulting in an increase in energy consumption and/or environmental burden, the rebound effect.
A rebound effect is classically economically speaking not necessarily a bad thing. An efficiency gain allows the consumer to make a saving. The consumer can use this saving to acquire additional energy and other goods that they would otherwise not have been able to acquire. They thus increase their wealth. In this way, efficiency gains also benefit economic growth. This does not mean that the rebound effect should be ignored. When making projections for achieving certain energy or other environmental objectives, it is important to take a rebound effect into account. If the existence of rebound effects is not considered, it may become difficult to achieve the predetermined energy or environmental objectives.
TML's case studies confirm that the rebound effect also plays a role in Flanders:
In this project, we investigated how the rebound effect plays out at the Flemish level. First, we explained the concept of the rebound effect in a reasoned and structured way and provided examples. Then we illustrated the rebound effect at the Flemish level using two cases (one on transport and one on energy).
The concept of the rebound effect is best explained by means of an example. Suppose that the use of additional insulation, with unchanged behaviour, leads to an energy saving of 20%. We speak of a rebound effect if the actual saving is smaller or larger than this 20%. The gain in efficiency creates a saving that leads to a behavioural change, namely additional consumption.
Rebound effects or behavioural changes play a role both directly (via extra consumption of energy or environmental goods) and indirectly (via extra consumption of other goods). The latter ultimately cause additional consumption of energy or environmental goods. In addition, there are broad economic effects that affect the whole economy. These play a particular role for producers, as they produce intermediate products for other producers. A price drop for an intermediate product translates into many other final (or other intermediate) products. In this way, the price drop finds its way throughout the economy, resulting in an increase in energy consumption and/or environmental burden, the rebound effect.
A rebound effect is classically economically speaking not necessarily a bad thing. An efficiency gain allows the consumer to make a saving. The consumer can use this saving to acquire additional energy and other goods that they would otherwise not have been able to acquire. They thus increase their wealth. In this way, efficiency gains also benefit economic growth. This does not mean that the rebound effect should be ignored. When making projections for achieving certain energy or other environmental objectives, it is important to take a rebound effect into account. If the existence of rebound effects is not considered, it may become difficult to achieve the predetermined energy or environmental objectives.
TML's case studies confirm that the rebound effect also plays a role in Flanders:
- Teleworking provides energy savings for home-work trips, but these savings can be completely negated by higher energy consumption at home and by other additional trips.
- An efficiency improvement in petrochemicals creates more energy consumption in Flanders.
- An efficiency improvement in the service sector reduces energy consumption in Flanders as a whole more than mere energy gains in the service sector.
