Energy efficiency benefits: is technophilic optimism justified?
Open accessAbstract
Despite the increased focus on making energy more efficient, research has rarely examined the temporal impact of energy efficiency on environmental performance at the national level. Using archival data, we conduct an econometric analysis that provides empirical evidence indicating the negative effects of the rebound effect and the positive effects of technology. Our results suggest that an increase in per capita energy consumption does not lead to an increase in emissions, but it could negate the environmental benefits arising from energy efficiency. However, energy efficiency leads to an increase in per capita emissions for developed countries.Post hocresults show that energy efficiency influences the three sectors (household, services, and industrial) differently on per capita energy consumption and emissions. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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Many scientific and technological environmental innovations striving for ecoefficiency actually increased total consumption of limited resources.
“Many scientific and technological environmental innovations striving for ecoefficiency actually increased total consumption of limited resources (Herring and Roy, 2007; Nishant et al., 2014).”
From Artificial intelligence for sustainability: Challenges, opportunities, and a research agenda (2020) · cites this paper as Nishant et al., 2014
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References 49 · Cited by 20
- Authors
- Nishant, R., Teo, T. S. H., & Goh, M.
- Affiliations
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
- Published
- 2014-08
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 476-487
- ISSN
- 0018-9391 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-0040
- OpenAlex
- W2048971042
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 5.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management (publishedVersion)
- RMIT Research Repository (RMIT University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- School of Business National University of Singapore
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Energy, Environment, Economic Growth
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
- Keywords
- energy efficiency, rebound effect, greenhouse gas emissions, per capita energy consumption, environmental performance, technology effect, developed countries, household energy consumption, industrial energy consumption
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