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Energy consumption in service industries: Challenging the myth of non-materiality

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  • Fourcroy, Charlotte
  • Gallouj, Faiz
  • Decellas, Fabrice

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of energy consumption in service industries. Official energy statistics show that the amount of energy consumed in service industries is quite small, and this is explained in the theoretical literature by the presumed intangibility of services. Our hypothesis, however, is that the energy consumed by services has been underestimated. After identifying and analyzing the full range of sources of energy consumption in service industries, we show that official energy statistics account for only a part of this consumption. Our work is based on a thorough rereading of the economics literature on services (especially concerning the definition of services and the specificities of the service provision process), done in light of our knowledge about energy consumption. Eventually, using the 2007 French national transportation and travel survey, we estimate one of the overlooked sources of energy consumption, the one pertaining to mobility.

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  • Fourcroy, Charlotte & Gallouj, Faiz & Decellas, Fabrice, 2012. "Energy consumption in service industries: Challenging the myth of non-materiality," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 155-164.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:81:y:2012:i:c:p:155-164
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.07.003
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    Cited by:

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    2. Juan Antonio Duro & Jordi Teixidó-Figueras & Emilio Padilla, 2017. "The Causal Factors of International Inequality in $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 Emissions Per Capita: A Regression-Based Inequality Decomposition Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(4), pages 683-700, August.
    3. Desmarchelier, Benoît & Djellal, Faridah & Gallouj, Faïz, 2013. "Environmental policies and eco-innovations by service firms: An agent-based model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 80(7), pages 1395-1408.
    4. Faridah Djellal & Faïz Gallouj, 2018. "Services, service innovation and the ecological challenge," Chapters, in: Faïz Gallouj & Faridah Djellal (ed.), A Research Agenda for Service Innovation, chapter 2, pages 27-45, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Faïz Gallouj, 2012. "Service: innovation, performance and public policy," Working Papers hal-01111765, HAL.
    6. Céline Merlin-Brogniart & Simon Nadel, 2021. "Specificities of environmental innovation dynamics in service firms: the French case," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 451-473, April.
    7. Gallouj, Faïz & Weber, K. Matthias & Stare, Metka & Rubalcaba, Luis, 2015. "The futures of the service economy in Europe: A foresight analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 80-96.
    8. Hongze Liang & Xiaoli Hao, 2023. "Can Service Trade Effectively Promote Carbon Emission Reduction?—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-23, August.
    9. Kuo-Jui Wu & Qing Chen & Yun Qi & Xiaoyue Jiang & Shuo Gao & Ming-Lang Tseng, 2019. "Sustainable Development Performance for Small and Medium Enterprises Using a Fuzzy Synthetic Method-DEMATEL," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-25, July.
    10. Rong Yuan & Tao Zhao & Jing Xu, 2017. "A subsystem input–output decomposition analysis of CO2 emissions in the service sectors: a case study of Beijing, China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(6), pages 2181-2198, December.
    11. Emilio Padilla Rosa & Evans Jadotte, 2023. "The determinants of the inequality in CO2 emissions per capita between developing countries and their implications for environmental policy," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 151-169, February.
    12. Elnaz Ghorbani & Tristan Fluechter & Laura Calvet & Majsa Ammouriova & Javier Panadero & Angel A. Juan, 2023. "Optimizing Energy Consumption in Smart Cities’ Mobility: Electric Vehicles, Algorithms, and Collaborative Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-19, January.
    13. Guo, Shan & Li, Yilin & Hu, Yunhao & Xue, Fan & Chen, Bin & Chen, Zhan-Ming, 2020. "Embodied energy in service industry in global cities: A study of six Asian cities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    14. Risto Rajala & Faïz Gallouj & Marja Toivonen, 2016. "Collaborative Value Creation in Service Innovation," Post-Print hal-01672596, HAL.
    15. Matías Piaggio & Vicent Alcántara Escolano & Emilio Padilla Rosa, 2013. "The materiality of the immaterial. Services sectors and CO2 emissions in Uruguay," Working Papers wpdea1306, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    16. Faridah Djellal & Faïz Gallouj, 2015. "Service innovation for sustainability: paths for greening through service innovation," Working Papers halshs-01188530, HAL.
    17. Axel Franzen & Sebastian Mader, 2016. "Predictors of national CO2 emissions: do international commitments matter?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 491-502, December.
    18. Guo, Yang & Zhao, Luwei & Zhang, Congcong, 2023. "Energy resources, tourism development and growth-emission nexus in developing countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    19. Mamoudou Camara, 2022. "Tertiarization and the environment: does this relationship depend on the type of tertiarization?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 24(4), pages 477-502, October.
    20. Guo, Shan & Jiang, Li & Shen, Geoffrey Q.P., 2019. "Embodied pasture land use change in China 2000-2015: From the perspective of globalization," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 476-485.
    21. Fang, Guochang & Tian, Lixin & Fu, Min & Sun, Mei, 2014. "Government control or low carbon lifestyle? – Analysis and application of a novel selective-constrained energy-saving and emission-reduction dynamic evolution system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 498-507.
    22. Charlotte Fourcroy, 2014. "Innovation logics and energy consumption in the service sector: a characteristics-based approach and its application to food retail services," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(3), pages 115-138.
    23. Juan Antonio Duro & Jordi Teixidó-Figueras & Emilio Padilla Rosa, 2014. "The causal factors of international inequality in CO2 emissions per capita: A regression-based inequality decomposition analysis," Working Papers wpdea1402, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    24. Piaggio, Matías & Alcántara, Vicent & Padilla, Emilio, 2015. "The materiality of the immaterial," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 1-10.

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