IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v154y2018icp14-21.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rebound Effects in Practice: An Invitation to Consider Rebound From a Practice Theory Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Sonnberger, Marco
  • Gross, Matthias

Abstract

Rebound effects are the unintended consequences of improvements in energy efficiency. They refer to situations in which efficiency improvements are reduced or even reversed by changes in behavior. In many cases these effects stem from small behavior changes rooted in cultural values or from the interconnectedness of everyday practices. Practice theory has established itself in many social science disciplines, including ecological economics, and its focus on routinized activities in everyday life promises to provide beneficial insights to debates on rebound. Since this has not been done to date, this article aims to fill the gap by offering suggestions as to how practice theory can complement and enhance existing explanations of rebound effects. Drawing on existing practice theory research on energy consumption, we identify and discuss a number of starting points for practice theory-inspired research on rebound effects. These include the pivotal role of distributed agency between humans and non-humans (e.g. technical devices), the co-dependence of practices, the co-evolution of practices with systems of provision, as well as a general trend towards the acceleration of everyday life.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonnberger, Marco & Gross, Matthias, 2018. "Rebound Effects in Practice: An Invitation to Consider Rebound From a Practice Theory Perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 14-21.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:154:y:2018:i:c:p:14-21
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.07.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800918303690
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.07.013?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. Mimi Sheller & John Urry, 2000. "The City and the Car," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 737-757, December.
    2. 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.
    3. Rezai, Armon & Taylor, Lance & Mechler, Reinhard, 2013. "Ecological macroeconomics: An application to climate change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 69-76.
    4. Saunders, Harry D., 2000. "A view from the macro side: rebound, backfire, and Khazzoom-Brookes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 439-449, June.
    5. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2011. "The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2616-2652, October.
    6. Sorrell, Steve & Dimitropoulos, John, 2008. "The rebound effect: Microeconomic definitions, limitations and extensions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 636-649, April.
    7. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    8. 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.
    9. Elizabeth Shove, 2010. "Beyond the ABC: Climate Change Policy and Theories of Social Change," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(6), pages 1273-1285, June.
    10. Saunders, Harry D. & Tsao, Jeffrey Y., 2012. "Rebound effects for lighting," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 477-478.
    11. Mathias Binswanger, 2004. "Time-saving innovations and their impact on energy use: some lessons from a household-production-function approach," International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(3), pages 209-218.
    12. Goulden, Murray & Ryley, Tim & Dingwall, Robert, 2014. "Beyond ‘predict and provide’: UK transport, the growth paradigm and climate change," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 139-147.
    13. Herbert A. Simon, 1955. "A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 69(1), pages 99-118.
    14. Bleicher, Alena & Gross, Matthias, 2016. "Geothermal heat pumps and the vagaries of subterranean geology: Energy independence at a household level as a real world experiment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 279-288.
    15. Saunders, Harry D., 2013. "Historical evidence for energy efficiency rebound in 30 US sectors and a toolkit for rebound analysts," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 80(7), pages 1317-1330.
    16. Sorrell, Steve, 2009. "Jevons' Paradox revisited: The evidence for backfire from improved energy efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1456-1469, April.
    17. Roland W. Scholz & Eric J. Bartelsman & Sarah Diefenbach & Lude Franke & Arnim Grunwald & Dirk Helbing & Richard Hill & Lorenz Hilty & Mattias Höjer & Stefan Klauser & Christian Montag & Peter Parycek, 2018. "Unintended Side Effects of the Digital Transition: European Scientists’ Messages from a Proposition-Based Expert Round Table," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-48, June.
    18. Moshiri, Saeed & Aliyev, Kamil, 2017. "Rebound effect of efficiency improvement in passenger cars on gasoline consumption in Canada," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 330-341.
    19. Jalas, Mikko, 2002. "A time use perspective on the materials intensity of consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 109-123, April.
    20. Santarius, Tilman & Soland, Martin, 2018. "How Technological Efficiency Improvements Change Consumer Preferences: Towards a Psychological Theory of Rebound Effects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 414-424.
    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. Grégoire Wallenborn, 2015. "The tragedy of energy efficiency. An interdisciplinary analysis of rebound effects," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/217727, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    23. Dupuy, Gabriel, 1999. "From the "magic circle" to "automobile dependence": measurements and political implications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 1-17, January.
    24. Mikko Jalas, 2005. "The Everyday Life Context of Increasing Energy Demands: Time Use Survey Data in a Decomposition Analysis," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 9(1‐2), pages 129-145, January.
    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. Filippo Corsini & Rafael Laurenti & Franziska Meinherz & Francesco Paolo Appio & Luca Mora, 2019. "The Advent of Practice Theories in Research on Sustainable Consumption: Past, Current and Future Directions of the Field," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-19, January.
    2. Monia Niero & Charlotte L. Jensen & Chiara Farné Fratini & Jens Dorland & Michael S. Jørgensen & Susse Georg, 2021. "Is life cycle assessment enough to address unintended side effects from Circular Economy initiatives?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(5), pages 1111-1120, October.
    3. Chris Foulds & Sarah Royston & Thomas Berker & Efi Nakopoulou & Zareen Pervez Bharucha & Rosie Robison & Simone Abram & Branko Ančić & Stathis Arapostathis & Gabriel Badescu & Richard Bull & Jed Cohen, 2022. "An agenda for future Social Sciences and Humanities research on energy efficiency: 100 priority research questions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Ahmann, Lara & Banning, Maximilian & Lutz, Christian, 2022. "Modeling rebound effects and counteracting policies for German industries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).

    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. 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.
    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. 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.
    6. Yu, Xuewei & Moreno-Cruz, Juan & Crittenden, John C., 2015. "Regional energy rebound effect: The impact of economy-wide and sector level energy efficiency improvement in Georgia, USA," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 250-259.
    7. Santarius, Tilman & Soland, Martin, 2018. "How Technological Efficiency Improvements Change Consumer Preferences: Towards a Psychological Theory of Rebound Effects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 414-424.
    8. Wu, Kuei-Yen & Wu, Jung-Hua & Huang, Yun-Hsun & Fu, Szu-Chi & Chen, Chia-Yon, 2016. "Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects by supply-driven input-output model: A case study of Taiwan's industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P1), pages 904-913.
    9. 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.
    10. Dahlqvist, Anna & Lundgren, Tommy & Marklund, Per-Olov, 2017. "Assessing the Rebound Effect in Energy Intensive Industries: A Factor Demand Model Approach with Asymmetric Price Response," Working Papers 150, National Institute of Economic Research.
    11. 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).
    12. Cansino, José M. & Román-Collado, Rocío & Merchán, José, 2019. "Do Spanish energy efficiency actions trigger JEVON’S paradox?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 760-770.
    13. Ahmann, Lara & Banning, Maximilian & Lutz, Christian, 2022. "Modeling rebound effects and counteracting policies for German industries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    14. 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).
    15. Jin, Taeyoung & Kim, Jinsoo, 2019. "A new approach for assessing the macroeconomic growth energy rebound effect," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 192-200.
    16. Figge, Frank & Thorpe, Andrea Stevenson, 2019. "The symbiotic rebound effect in the circular economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 61-69.
    17. Galvin, Ray, 2015. "The rebound effect, gender and social justice: A case study in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 759-769.
    18. 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.
    19. Labanca, Nicola & Bertoldi, Paolo, 2018. "Beyond energy efficiency and individual behaviours: policy insights from social practice theories," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 494-502.
    20. 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.

    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:ecolec:v:154:y:2018:i:c:p:14-21. 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/ecolecon .

    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.