IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v3y2014i1p106-122d32832.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revisiting Rebound Effects from Material Resource Use. Indications for Germany Considering Social Heterogeneity

Author

Listed:
  • Johannes Buhl

    (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Doeppersberg 19, Wuppertal D-42103, Germany)

Abstract

In contrast to the original investigation by William Stanley Jevons, compensations of energy savings due to improved energy efficiency are mostly analyzed by providing energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions. In support of a sustainable resource management, this paper analyzes so-called rebound effects based on resource use. Material flows and associated expenditures by households allow for calculating resource intensities and marginal propensities to consume. Marginal propensities to consume are estimated from data of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) in order to account for indirect rebound effects for food, housing and mobility. Resource intensities are estimated in terms of total material requirements per household final consumption expenditures along the Classification of Individual Consumption according to Purpose (COICOP). Eventually, rebound effects are indicated on the basis of published saving scenarios in resource and energy demand for Germany. In sum, compensations due to rebound effects are lowest for food while the highest compensations are induced for mobility. This is foremost the result of a relatively high resource intensity of food and a relatively low resource intensity in mobility. Findings are provided by giving various propensity scenarios in order to cope with income differences in Germany. The author concludes that policies on resource conservation need to reconsider rebound effects under the aspect of social heterogeneity.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Buhl, 2014. "Revisiting Rebound Effects from Material Resource Use. Indications for Germany Considering Social Heterogeneity," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-17, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:3:y:2014:i:1:p:106-122:d:32832
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/3/1/106/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/3/1/106/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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. 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.
    3. Matiaske, Wenzel & Menges, Roland & Spiess, Martin, 2012. "Modifying the rebound: It depends! Explaining mobility behavior on the basis of the German socio-economic panel," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 29-35.
    4. Ulrike Stein, 2009. "Zur Entwicklung der Sparquoten der privaten Haushalte: eine Auswertung von Haushaltsdaten des SOEP," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 249, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    5. Lettenmeier, Michael & Gobel, Christine & Liedtke, Christa & Rohn, Holger & Teitscheid, Petra, 2012. "Material Footprint of a Sustainable Nutrition System in 2050 – Need for Dynamic Innovations in Production, Consumption and Politics," 2012 International European Forum, February 13-17, 2012, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 144983, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Alfredsson, E.C., 2004. "“Green” consumption—no solution for climate change," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 513-524.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Shao, Shuai & Huang, Tao & Yang, Lili, 2014. "Using latent variable approach to estimate China׳s economy-wide energy rebound effect over 1954–2010," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 235-248.
    2. Thomas, Brinda A. & Azevedo, Inês L., 2013. "Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for U.S. households with input–output analysis Part 1: Theoretical framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 199-210.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Benedetto, Graziella & Rugani, Benedetto & Vázquez-Rowe, Ian, 2014. "Rebound effects due to economic choices when assessing the environmental sustainability of wine," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P1), pages 167-173.
    6. Chitnis, Mona & Sorrell, Steve, 2015. "Living up to expectations: Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for UK households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(S1), pages 100-116.
    7. repec:hal:gemwpa:hal-00991732 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Antal, Miklós & van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2014. "Re-spending rebound: A macro-level assessment for OECD countries and emerging economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 585-590.
    9. Mills, Bradford & Schleich, Joachim, 2014. "Household transitions to energy efficient lighting," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 151-160.
    10. Wen, Fenghua & Ye, Zhengke & Yang, Huaidong & Li, Ke, 2018. "Exploring the rebound effect from the perspective of household: An analysis of China's provincial level," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 345-356.
    11. Tufan Özsoy, 2024. "The “energy rebound effect” within the framework of environmental sustainability," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), March.
    12. Bakry, Walid & Nghiem, Xuan-Hoa & Farouk, Sherine & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2023. "Does it hurt or help? Revisiting the effects of ICT on economic growth and energy consumption: A nonlinear panel ARDL approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 597-617.
    13. Li, Ke & Jiang, Zhujun, 2016. "The impacts of removing energy subsidies on economy-wide rebound effects in China: An input-output analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 62-72.
    14. 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.
    15. Galvin, Ray, 2015. "The ICT/electronics question: Structural change and the rebound effect," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 23-31.
    16. Hamamoto, Mitsutsugu, 2019. "An empirical study on the behavior of hybrid-electric vehicle purchasers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 286-292.
    17. Galvin, Ray, 2020. "Who co-opted our energy efficiency gains? A sociology of macro-level rebound effects and US car makers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    18. Schleich, Joachim & Mills, Bradford & Dütschke, Elisabeth, 2014. "A brighter future? Quantifying the rebound effect in energy efficient lighting," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 35-42.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.
    21. 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).

    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:gam:jresou:v:3:y:2014:i:1:p:106-122:d:32832. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.