IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v104y2021ics0140988321005545.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do rebound effects matter for Switzerland? Assessing the effectiveness of industrial energy efficiency improvements

Author

Listed:
  • Zimmermann, Michel
  • Vöhringer, Frank
  • Thalmann, Philippe
  • Moreau, Vincent

Abstract

In energy policy, efficiency improvements are conventional means for reducing industrial energy use as well as related environmental and climate externalities. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of energy efficiency improvements in reducing energy use is known to be limited by rebound effects. These rebound effects arise from economic and behavioral responses to the energy efficiency improvements themselves. In this paper, we show that their magnitude critically depends on the substitutability (or complementarity) of energy with different types of capital. These relationships between energy and capital must, hence, be carefully modelled in the context of rebound assessments. To this end, we develop a new, recursively dynamic computable general equilibrium model for Switzerland, which differentiates the capital stock into capital that is substitutable and capital that is complementary with energy. With this model, we simulate average economy-wide rebound effects of 38%; Sector-specific average rebound effects range from negative rebound effects for energy supply sectors to 48% for the energy-intensive manufacturing industry. The sector-specific results crucially depend on the energy and capital intensities of the respective sectors. A sensitivity analysis shows that our more sophisticated representation of capital lowers the simulated rebound effects. Conversely, existing rebound assessments with a homogenous capital stock may overestimate rebound effects. Nonetheless, both economy-wide and industrial rebound effects in Switzerland remain substantial. When devising energy efficiency policies, it is thus essential to evaluate the expected rebound effects and to compensate for them with complementary policies, such as energy and carbon taxes.

Suggested Citation

  • Zimmermann, Michel & Vöhringer, Frank & Thalmann, Philippe & Moreau, Vincent, 2021. "Do rebound effects matter for Switzerland? Assessing the effectiveness of industrial energy efficiency improvements," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:104:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321005545
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988321005545
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105703?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brookes, Len, 1990. "The greenhouse effect: the fallacies in the energy efficiency solution," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 199-201, March.
    2. Lemoine, Derek, 2020. "General equilibrium rebound from energy efficiency innovation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Font Vivanco, David & Kemp, René & van der Voet, Ester, 2016. "How to deal with the rebound effect? A policy-oriented approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 114-125.
    4. Birol, Fatih & Keppler, Jan Horst, 2000. "Prices, technology development and the rebound effect," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 457-469, June.
    5. Sebastian Rausch & Hagen Schwerin, 2018. "Does Higher Energy Efficiency Lower Economy-Wide Energy Use?," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 18/299, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    6. Figus, Gioele & McGregor, Peter G. & Swales, J. Kim & Turner, Karen, 2020. "Do sticky energy prices impact the time paths of rebound effects associated with energy efficiency actions?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Rutherford, Thomas F, 1999. "Applied General Equilibrium Modeling with MPSGE as a GAMS Subsystem: An Overview of the Modeling Framework and Syntax," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 14(1-2), pages 1-46, October.
    8. Broberg, Thomas & Berg, Charlotte & Samakovlis, Eva, 2015. "The economy-wide rebound effect from improved energy efficiency in Swedish industries–A general equilibrium analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 26-37.
    9. Stern, David I., 2020. "How large is the economy-wide rebound effect?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    10. Azusa OKAGAWA & Kanemi BAN, 2008. "Estimation of substitution elasticities for CGE models," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 08-16, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    11. Turner, Karen, 2009. "Negative rebound and disinvestment effects in response to an improvement in energy efficiency in the UK economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 648-666, September.
    12. Duarte, Rosa & Sánchez-Chóliz, Julio & Sarasa, Cristina, 2018. "Consumer-side actions in a low-carbon economy: A dynamic CGE analysis for Spain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 199-210.
    13. Evans, Antony & Schäfer, Andreas, 2013. "The rebound effect in the aviation sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 158-165.
    14. A. Greening, Lorna & Greene, David L. & Difiglio, Carmen, 2000. "Energy efficiency and consumption -- the rebound effect -- a survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 389-401, June.
    15. van der Werf, Edwin, 2008. "Production functions for climate policy modeling: An empirical analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 2964-2979, November.
    16. Wei, Taoyuan, 2007. "Impact of energy efficiency gains on output and energy use with Cobb-Douglas production function," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2023-2030, April.
    17. Brockway, Paul E. & Sorrell, Steve & Semieniuk, Gregor & Heun, Matthew Kuperus & Court, Victor, 2021. "Energy efficiency and economy-wide rebound effects: A review of the evidence and its implications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    18. Corden, W Max & Neary, J Peter, 1982. "Booming Sector and De-Industrialisation in a Small Open Economy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(368), pages 825-848, December.
    19. Koesler, Simon & Swales, Kim & Turner, Karen, 2016. "International spillover and rebound effects from increased energy efficiency in Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 444-452.
    20. Matos, Fernando J.F. & Silva, Francisco J.F., 2011. "The rebound effect on road freight transport: Empirical evidence from Portugal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2833-2841, May.
    21. J. Daniel Khazzoom, 1980. "Economic Implications of Mandated Efficiency in Standards for Household Appliances," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 21-40.
    22. Turner, Karen, 2008. "A computable general equilibrium analysis of the relative price sensitivity required to induce rebound effects in response to an improvement in energy efficiency in the UK economy," SIRE Discussion Papers 2008-20, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    23. Moreau, Vincent & Vuille, François, 2018. "Decoupling energy use and economic growth: Counter evidence from structural effects and embodied energy in trade," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 54-62.
    24. Camille Gonseth & Philippe Thalmann & Marc Vielle, 2017. "Impacts of Global Warming on Energy Use for Heating and Cooling with Full Rebound Effects in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 153(4), pages 341-369, October.
    25. Saunders, Harry D., 2008. "Fuel conserving (and using) production functions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2184-2235, September.
    26. Paul E. Brockway & Harry Saunders & Matthew K. Heun & Timothy J. Foxon & Julia K. Steinberger & John R. Barrett & Steve Sorrell, 2017. "Energy Rebound as a Potential Threat to a Low-Carbon Future: Findings from a New Exergy-Based National-Level Rebound Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, January.
    27. Chitnis, Mona & Sorrell, Steve & Druckman, Angela & Firth, Steven K. & Jackson, Tim, 2013. "Turning lights into flights: Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for UK households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 234-250.
    28. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10972 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Lecca, Patrizio & Swales, Kim & Turner, Karen, 2011. "An investigation of issues relating to where energy should enter the production function," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 2832-2841.
    30. Chitnis, Mona & Sorrell, Steve & Druckman, Angela & Firth, Steven K. & Jackson, Tim, 2014. "Who rebounds most? Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for different UK socioeconomic groups," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 12-32.
    31. Druckman, Angela & Chitnis, Mona & Sorrell, Steve & Jackson, Tim, 2011. "Missing carbon reductions? Exploring rebound and backfire effects in UK households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3572-3581, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Perdana, Sigit & Vielle, Marc, 2022. "Making the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism acceptable and climate friendly for least developed countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    2. Belaïd, Fateh & Mikayilov, Jeyhun I., 2024. "Closing the Efficiency Gap: Insights into curbing the direct rebound effect of residential electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    3. Xin Han & Feng Lu & Jun Hou & Xianming Kuang, 2022. "Impact of Haze Pollution on Industrial Agglomeration: Empirical Evidence From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rocha, Felipe Freitas da & Almeida, Edmar Luiz Fagundes de, 2021. "A general equilibrium model of macroeconomic rebound effect: A broader view," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Brockway, Paul E. & Sorrell, Steve & Semieniuk, Gregor & Heun, Matthew Kuperus & Court, Victor, 2021. "Energy efficiency and economy-wide rebound effects: A review of the evidence and its implications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    3. David Font Vivanco & Serenella Sala & Will McDowall, 2018. "Roadmap to Rebound: How to Address Rebound Effects from Resource Efficiency Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, June.
    4. Karen Turner, 2013. ""Rebound" Effects from Increased Energy Efficiency: A Time to Pause and Reflect," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    5. Sondes Kahouli & Xavier Pautrel, 2020. "Residential and Industrial Energy Efficiency Improvement: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis of the Rebound Effect," Working Papers 2020.28, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    6. Lu, Yingying & Liu, Yu & Zhou, Meifang, 2017. "Rebound effect of improved energy efficiency for different energy types: A general equilibrium analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 248-256.
    7. Broberg, Thomas & Berg, Charlotte & Samakovlis, Eva, 2015. "The economy-wide rebound effect from improved energy efficiency in Swedish industries–A general equilibrium analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 26-37.
    8. Böhringer, Christoph & Rivers, Nicholas, 2021. "The energy efficiency rebound effect in general equilibrium," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    9. Colmenares, Gloria & Löschel, Andreas & Madlener, Reinhard, 2019. "The rebound effect and its representation in energy and climate models," CAWM Discussion Papers 106, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    10. Saunders, Harry D. & Roy, Joyashree & Azevedo, Inês M.L. & Chakravarty, Debalina & Dasgupta, Shyamasree & De La Rue Du Can, Stephane & Druckman, Angela & Fouquet, Roger & Grubb, Michael & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Energy efficiency: what has research delivered in the last 40 years?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114344, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. G. Mandras & G. Garau, 2015. "Economy-wide rebound effects from an increase in efficiency in the use of energy: the Italian case," Working Paper CRENoS 201520, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    12. Kahouli, Sondes & Pautrel, Xavier, 2020. "Residential and Industrial Energy Efficiency Improvement: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis of the Rebound Effect," FEP: Future Energy Program 308024, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) > FEP: Future Energy Program.
    13. Jafari, Mahboubeh & Stern, David I. & Bruns, Stephan B., 2022. "How large is the economy-wide rebound effect in middle income countries? Evidence from Iran," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    14. Chang, Juin-Jen & Wang, Wei-Neng & Shieh, Jhy-Yuan, 2018. "Environmental rebounds/backfires: Macroeconomic implications for the promotion of environmentally-friendly products," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 35-68.
    15. Bruns, Stephan B. & Moneta, Alessio & Stern, David I., 2021. "Estimating the economy-wide rebound effect using empirically identified structural vector autoregressions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    16. Turner, Karen & Hanley, Nick, 2011. "Energy efficiency, rebound effects and the environmental Kuznets Curve," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 709-720, September.
    17. Blum, Bianca & Hübner, Julian & Müller, Sarah & Neumärker, Karl Justus Bernhard, 2018. "Challenges for sustainable environmental policy: Influencing factors of the rebound effect in energy efficiency improvements," The Constitutional Economics Network Working Papers 02-2018, University of Freiburg, Department of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economic Theory.
    18. Anson, Sam & Turner, Karen, 2009. "Rebound and disinvestment effects in refined oil consumption and supply resulting from an increase in energy efficiency in the Scottish commercial transport sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3608-3620, September.
    19. Font Vivanco, David & Nechifor, Victor & Freire-González, Jaume & Calzadilla, Alvaro, 2021. "Economy-wide rebound makes UK’s electric car subsidy fall short of expectations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    20. Tugba Somuncu & Christopher Hannum, 2018. "The Rebound Effect of Energy Efficiency Policy in the Presence of Energy Theft," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-28, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:104:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321005545. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.