IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v88y2020ics0140988320301158.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do vehicle efficiency improvements lead to energy savings? The rebound effect in Great Britain

Author

Listed:
  • Craglia, Matteo
  • Cullen, Jonathan

Abstract

Fuel efficiency improvements in vehicles reduce the cost of travel, which could stimulate drivers to travel further limiting energy savings. Estimates of this effect, known as the rebound effect, have varied widely, partly due to data constraints and a reliance upon highly aggregated government statistics. This paper instead uses a dataset of over 275 million vehicle roadworthiness tests. The high level of detail in our dataset can reveal, for the first time, how the response to changes in travel costs may differ across types of vehicles and socio-economic areas in Great Britain.

Suggested Citation

  • Craglia, Matteo & Cullen, Jonathan, 2020. "Do vehicle efficiency improvements lead to energy savings? The rebound effect in Great Britain," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:88:y:2020:i:c:s0140988320301158
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2020.104775
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988320301158
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.104775?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. Gillingham, Kenneth & Munk-Nielsen, Anders, 2019. "A tale of two tails: Commuting and the fuel price response in driving," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 27-40.
    2. Kenneth A. Small & Kurt Van Dender, 2007. "Fuel Efficiency and Motor Vehicle Travel: The Declining Rebound Effect," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 25-52.
    3. Gillingham, Kenneth, 2014. "Identifying the elasticity of driving: Evidence from a gasoline price shock in California," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 13-24.
    4. Antonio M. Bento & Lawrence H. Goulder & Mark R. Jacobsen & Roger H. von Haefen, 2009. "Distributional and Efficiency Impacts of Increased US Gasoline Taxes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 667-699, June.
    5. Stapleton, Lee & Sorrell, Steve & Schwanen, Tim, 2016. "Estimating direct rebound effects for personal automotive travel in Great Britain," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 313-325.
    6. Ryan, Lisa & Ferreira, Susana & Convery, Frank, 2009. "The impact of fiscal and other measures on new passenger car sales and CO2 emissions intensity: Evidence from Europe," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 365-374, May.
    7. Shanjun Li & Christopher Timmins & Roger H. von Haefen, 2009. "How Do Gasoline Prices Affect Fleet Fuel Economy?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 113-137, August.
    8. Jonathan E. Hughes & Christopher R. Knittel & Daniel Sperling, 2008. "Evidence of a Shift in the Short-Run Price Elasticity of Gasoline Demand," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 113-134.
    9. 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.
    10. Frondel, Manuel & Ritter, Nolan & Vance, Colin, 2012. "Heterogeneity in the rebound effect: Further evidence for Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 461-467.
    11. Christopher R. Knittel & Ryan Sandler, 2013. "The Welfare Impact of Indirect Pigouvian Taxation: Evidence from Transportation," NBER Working Papers 18849, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Gillingham, Kenneth & Jenn, Alan & Azevedo, Inês M.L., 2015. "Heterogeneity in the response to gasoline prices: Evidence from Pennsylvania and implications for the rebound effect," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(S1), pages 41-52.
    13. Hymel, Kent M. & Small, Kenneth A., 2015. "The rebound effect for automobile travel: Asymmetric response to price changes and novel features of the 2000s," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 93-103.
    14. Hymel, Kent M. & Small, Kenneth A. & Dender, Kurt Van, 2010. "Induced demand and rebound effects in road transport," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1220-1241, December.
    15. Craglia, Matteo & Cullen, Jonathan, 2019. "Do technical improvements lead to real efficiency gains? Disaggregating changes in transport energy intensity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    16. Nathan W. Chan & Kenneth Gillingham, 2015. "The Microeconomic Theory of the Rebound Effect and Its Welfare Implications," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 133-159.
    17. Cullen, Jonathan M. & Allwood, Julian M., 2010. "The efficient use of energy: Tracing the global flow of energy from fuel to service," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 75-81, January.
    18. Langer, Ashley & Maheshri, Vikram & Winston, Clifford, 2017. "From gallons to miles: A disaggregate analysis of automobile travel and externality taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 34-46.
    19. R.E. Wilson & S. Cairns & S. Notley & J. Anable & T. Chatterton & F. McLeod, 2013. "Techniques for the inference of mileage rates from MOT data," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 130-143, February.
    20. 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.
    21. Sorrell, Steve & Dimitropoulos, John & Sommerville, Matt, 2009. "Empirical estimates of the direct rebound effect: A review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1356-1371, April.
    22. 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.
    23. Dargay, Joyce, 2007. "The effect of prices and income on car travel in the UK," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 949-960, December.
    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. Li, Guohao & Niu, Miaomiao & Xiao, Jin & Wu, Jiaqian & Li, Jinkai, 2023. "The rebound effect of decarbonization in China’s power sector under the carbon trading scheme," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    2. Abudureheman, Maliyamu & Jiang, Qingzhe & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Cong, 2022. "Spatial effects of dynamic comprehensive energy efficiency on CO2 reduction in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    3. Rongxin Wu & Boqiang Lin, 2022. "Does Energy Efficiency Realize Energy Conservation in the Iron and Steel Industry? A Perspective of Energy Rebound Effect," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-20, September.
    4. Jaehn, Florian & Meissner, Finn, 2022. "The rebound effect in transportation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    5. Cansino, José M. & Ordóñez, Manuel & Prieto, Manuela, 2022. "Decomposition and measurement of the rebound effect: The case of energy efficiency improvements in Spain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    6. Konishi, Yoshifumi & Kuroda, Sho, 2023. "Why is Japan’s carbon emissions from road transportation declining?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. Miao, Zhuang & Chen, Xiaodong, 2022. "Combining parametric and non-parametric approach, variable & source -specific productivity changes and rebound effect of energy & environment," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    8. Zha, Donglan & Chen, Qian & Wang, Lijun, 2022. "Exploring carbon rebound effects in Chinese households’ consumption: A simulation analysis based on a multi-regional input–output framework," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    9. Galvin, Ray & Martulli, Alessandro & Ruzzenenti, Franco, 2021. "Does power curb energy efficiency? Evidence from two decades of European truck tests," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    10. Chen, Qian & Zha, Donglan & Salman, Muhammad, 2022. "The influence of carbon tax on CO2 rebound effect and welfare in Chinese households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    11. Lisa Winkler & Drew Pearce & Jenny Nelson & Oytun Babacan, 2023. "The effect of sustainable mobility transition policies on cumulative urban transport emissions and energy demand," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    12. Josse Delfgaauw & Otto Swank, 2023. "The Gasoline Climate Trap," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 23-025/VII, Tinbergen Institute.

    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. Dimitropoulos, Alexandros & Oueslati, Walid & Sintek, Christina, 2018. "The rebound effect in road transport: A meta-analysis of empirical studies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 163-179.
    2. Tilov, Ivan & Weber, Sylvain, 2023. "Heterogeneity in price elasticity of vehicle kilometers traveled: Evidence from micro-level panel data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    3. Stapleton, Lee & Sorrell, Steve & Schwanen, Tim, 2016. "Estimating direct rebound effects for personal automotive travel in Great Britain," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 313-325.
    4. Gillingham, Kenneth & Jenn, Alan & Azevedo, Inês M.L., 2015. "Heterogeneity in the response to gasoline prices: Evidence from Pennsylvania and implications for the rebound effect," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(S1), pages 41-52.
    5. Gillingham, Kenneth & Munk-Nielsen, Anders, 2019. "A tale of two tails: Commuting and the fuel price response in driving," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 27-40.
    6. Goetzke, Frank & Vance, Colin, 2021. "An increasing gasoline price elasticity in the United States?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    7. Miyoshi, Chikage & Fukui, Hideki, 2018. "Measuring the rebound effects in air transport: The impact of jet fuel prices and air carriers’ fuel efficiency improvement of the European airlines," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 71-84.
    8. Goetzke, Frank & Vance, Colin, 2018. "Is gasoline price elasticity in the United States increasing? Evidence from the 2009 and 2017 national household travel surveys," Ruhr Economic Papers 765, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    9. Kenneth Gillingham & David Rapson & Gernot Wagner, 2016. "The Rebound Effect and Energy Efficiency Policy," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(1), pages 68-88.
    10. Sylvain Weber & Mehdi Farsi, 2014. "Travel distance, fuel efficiency, and vehicle weight: An estimation of the rebound effect using individual data in Switzerland," IRENE Working Papers 14-03, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    11. Fullerton, Don & Ta, Chi L., 2020. "Costs of energy efficiency mandates can reverse the sign of rebound," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    12. Matsushima, Hiroshi & Khanna, Madhu, 2022. "Estimating Medium-run Direct Rebound Effects of the Footprint-based CAFE Standard," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322420, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Llorca, Manuel & Jamasb, Tooraj, 2017. "Energy efficiency and rebound effect in European road freight transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 98-110.
    14. Hössinger, Reinhard & Link, Christoph & Sonntag, Axel & Stark, Juliane, 2017. "Estimating the price elasticity of fuel demand with stated preferences derived from a situational approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 154-171.
    15. Li, Jianglong & Li, Aijun & Xie, Xuan, 2018. "Rebound effect of transportation considering additional capital costs and input-output relationships: The role of subsistence consumption and unmet demand," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 441-455.
    16. Giménez-Nadal, J. Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto, 2019. "Green commuting and gasoline taxes in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 324-331.
    17. Chen, Zhenni & Du, Huibin & Li, Jianglong & Southworth, Frank & Ma, Shoufeng, 2019. "Achieving low-carbon urban passenger transport in China: Insights from the heterogeneous rebound effect," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1029-1041.
    18. David Font Vivanco & Jaume Freire‐González & Ray Galvin & Tilman Santarius & Hans Jakob Walnum & Tamar Makov & Serenella Sala, 2022. "Rebound effect and sustainability science: A review," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1543-1563, August.
    19. Galvin, Ray, 2016. "Rebound effects from speed and acceleration in electric and internal combustion engine cars: An empirical and conceptual investigation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 207-216.
    20. Chen, Qian & Zha, Donglan & Wang, Lijun & Yang, Guanglei, 2022. "The direct CO2 rebound effect in households: Evidence from China's provinces," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

    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:88:y:2020:i:c:s0140988320301158. 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.