IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v37y2009i4p1356-1371.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Empirical estimates of the direct rebound effect: A review

Author

Listed:
  • Sorrell, Steve
  • Dimitropoulos, John
  • Sommerville, Matt

Abstract

Improvements in energy efficiency make energy services cheaper, and therefore encourage increased consumption of those services. This so-called direct rebound effect offsets the energy savings that may otherwise be achieved. This paper provides an overview of the theoretical and methodological issues relevant to estimating the direct rebound effect and summarises the empirical estimates that are currently available. The paper focuses entirely on household energy services, since this is where most of the evidence lies and points to a number of potential sources of bias that may lead the effect to be overestimated. For household energy services in the OECD, the paper concludes that the direct rebound effect should generally be less than 30%.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:37:y:2009:i:4:p:1356-1371
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4215(08)00713-1
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Espey, Molly, 1998. "Gasoline demand revisited: an international meta-analysis of elasticities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 273-295, June.
    2. Dubin, Jeffrey A & McFadden, Daniel L, 1984. "An Econometric Analysis of Residential Electric Appliance Holdings and Consumption," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 345-362, March.
    3. Schipper, Lee & Figueroa, Maria Josefina & Price, Lynn & Espey, Molly, 1993. "Mind the gap The vicious circle of measuring automobile fuel use," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(12), pages 1173-1190, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Daniel J. Graham & Stephen Glaister, 2002. "The Demand for Automobile Fuel: A Survey of Elasticities," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 36(1), pages 1-25, January.
    6. David L. Greene & James R. Kahn & Robert C. Gibson, 1999. "Fuel Economy Rebound Effect for U.S. Household Vehicles," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 1-31.
    7. repec:bla:scandj:v:103:y:2001:i:1:p:165-84 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Puller, Steven L. & Greening, Lorna A., 1999. "Household adjustment to gasoline price change: an analysis using 9 years of US survey data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 37-52, February.
    9. Sorrell, Steve & Dimitropoulos, John, 2008. "The rebound effect: Microeconomic definitions, limitations and extensions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 636-649, April.
    10. Roy, Joyashree, 2000. "The rebound effect: some empirical evidence from India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 433-438, June.
    11. Dahl, Carol A., 1993. "A survey of energy demand elasticities in support of the development of the NEMS," MPRA Paper 13962, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Vine, Edward & Barnes, B.K., 1989. "Monitored indoor temperatures and reported thermostat settings: How different are they?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 299-308.
    13. Peter M. Schwarz & Thomas N. Taylor, 1995. "Cold Hands, Warm Hearth? Climate, Net Takeback, and Household Comfort," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 41-54.
    14. Dewees, Donald N & Wilson, Thomas A, 1990. "Cold Houses and Warm Climates Revisited: On Keeping Warm in Chicago, or Paradox Lost: Comment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(3), pages 656-663, June.
    15. 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.
    16. West, Sarah E., 2004. "Distributional effects of alternative vehicle pollution control policies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 735-757, March.
    17. Meyer, Bruce D, 1995. "Natural and Quasi-experiments in Economics," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 151-161, April.
    18. Binswanger, Mathias, 2001. "Technological progress and sustainable development: what about the rebound effect?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 119-132, January.
    19. Hirst, Eric & White, Dennis & Goeltz, Richard, 1985. "Indoor temperature changes in retrofit homes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 10(7), pages 861-870.
    20. Alex Wilson & Jessica Boehland, 2005. "Small is Beautiful U.S. House Size, Resource Use, and the Environment," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 9(1‐2), pages 277-287, January.
    21. Blair, Roger D & Kaserman, David L & Tepel, Richard C, 1984. "The Impact of Improved Mileage on Gasoline Consumption," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 22(2), pages 209-217, April.
    22. Espey, James A. & Espey, Molly, 2004. "Turning on the Lights: A Meta-Analysis of Residential Electricity Demand Elasticities," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 36(1), pages 1-17, April.
    23. William C. Wheaton, 1982. "The Long-Run Structure of Transportation and Gasoline Demand," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 439-454, Autumn.
    24. J. Daniel Khazzoom, 1980. "Economic Implications of Mandated Efficiency in Standards for Household Appliances," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 21-40.
    25. Clifton T Jones, 1993. "Another Look at U.S. Passenger Vehicle Use and the 'Rebound' Effect from Improved Fuel Efficiency," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 99-110.
    26. Jerry A. Hausman, 1979. "Individual Discount Rates and the Purchase and Utilization of Energy-Using Durables," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 33-54, Spring.
    27. David L. Greene, 1992. "Vehicle Use and Fuel Economy: How Big is the "Rebound" Effect?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 117-144.
    28. Klein, Yehuda Levi, 1987. "Residential energy conservation choices of poor households during a period of rising fuel prices," Resources and Energy, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 363-378, December.
    29. Manuel Frondel & Jorg Peters & Colin Vance, 2008. "Identifying the Rebound: Evidence from a German Household Panel," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 145-164.
    30. Frondel, Manuel & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2005. "Evaluating environmental programs: The perspective of modern evaluation research," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 515-526, December.
    31. Jalas, Mikko, 2002. "A time use perspective on the materials intensity of consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 109-123, April.
    32. Dermot Gately, 1993. "The Imperfect Price-Reversibility of World Oil Demand," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 163-182.
    33. Hartman, Raymond S, 1988. "Self-Selection Bias in the Evaluation of Voluntary Energy Conservation Programs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(3), pages 448-458, August.
    34. Sorrell, Steve, 1992. "Fuel efficiency in the UK vehicle stock," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 766-780, August.
    35. Haas, Reinhard & Schipper, Lee, 1998. "Residential energy demand in OECD-countries and the role of irreversible efficiency improvements," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 421-442, September.
    36. Dahl, Carol & Sterner, Thomas, 1991. "Analysing gasoline demand elasticities: a survey," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 203-210, July.
    37. Molly Espey, 1996. "Explaining the Variation in Elasticity Estimates of Gasoline Demand in the United States: A Meta-Analysis," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 49-60.
    38. Patterson, Murray G, 1996. "What is energy efficiency? : Concepts, indicators and methodological issues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 377-390, May.
    39. Jonathan Haughton & Soumodip Sarkar, 1996. "Gasoline Tax as a Corrective Tax: Estimates for the United States, 1970-1991," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 103-126.
    40. Joyce Dargay & Dermot Gately, 1994. "Oil Demand in the Industrialized Countries," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Special I), pages 39-67.
    41. Orasch, Wolfgang & Wirl, Franz, 1997. "Technological efficiency and the demand for energy (road transport)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(14-15), pages 1129-1136, December.
    42. Dermot Gately, 1992. "Imperfect Price-Reversibility of U.S. Gasoline Demand: Asymmetric Responses to Price Increases and Declines," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 179-208.
    43. Lucas W. Davis, 2008. "Durable goods and residential demand for energy and water: evidence from a field trial," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(2), pages 530-546, June.
    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. Sorrell, Steve & Dimitropoulos, John, 2008. "The rebound effect: Microeconomic definitions, limitations and extensions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 636-649, April.
    2. Wang, Jiayu & Yu, Shuao & Liu, Tiansen, 2021. "A theoretical analysis of the direct rebound effect caused by energy efficiency improvement of private consumers," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 171-181.
    3. 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.
    4. Greene, David L., 2012. "Rebound 2007: Analysis of U.S. light-duty vehicle travel statistics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 14-28.
    5. Su, Qing, 2012. "A quantile regression analysis of the rebound effect: Evidence from the 2009 National Household Transportation Survey in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 368-377.
    6. Tingting Wang & Cynthia Chen, 2014. "Impact of fuel price on vehicle miles traveled (VMT): do the poor respond in the same way as the rich?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 91-105, January.
    7. Aydin, Erdal, 2016. "Energy conservation in the residential sector : The role of policy and market forces," Other publications TiSEM b9cedba8-1310-4097-90fb-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Stela Rubínová, 2011. "Reakce poptávky domácností po energii na zvyšování energetické účinnosti: teorie a její důsledky pro konstrukci empiricky ověřitelných modelů [Reaction of Household Energy Demand to Improvements in," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2011(3), pages 359-378.
    9. 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.
    10. Yu, Biying & Zhang, Junyi & Fujiwara, Akimasa, 2013. "Evaluating the direct and indirect rebound effects in household energy consumption behavior: A case study of Beijing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 441-453.
    11. 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.
    12. Wang, Zhaohua & Lu, Milin, 2014. "An empirical study of direct rebound effect for road freight transport in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 274-281.
    13. Wang, H. & Zhou, D.Q. & Zhou, P. & Zha, D.L., 2012. "Direct rebound effect for passenger transport: Empirical evidence from Hong Kong," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 162-167.
    14. Wang, Zhaohua & Lu, Milin & Wang, Jian-Cai, 2014. "Direct rebound effect on urban residential electricity use: An empirical study in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 124-132.
    15. Moshiri, Saeed, 2020. "Consumer responses to gasoline price and non-price policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    16. Martín Bordon Lesme & Jaume Freire-González & Emilio Padilla Rosa, 2020. "The Direct Rebound Effect of Electricity Energy Services in Spanish Households: Evidence from Error Correction Model and System GMM estimates," Working Papers wpdea2002, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    17. Freire-González, Jaume, 2011. "Methods to empirically estimate direct and indirect rebound effect of energy-saving technological changes in households," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 223(1), pages 32-40.
    18. Ghoddusi, Hamed & Roy, Mandira, 2017. "Supply elasticity matters for the rebound effect and its impact on policy comparisons," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 111-120.
    19. Milin Lu & Zhaohua Wang, 2017. "Rebound effects for residential electricity use in urban China: an aggregation analysis based E-I-O and scenario simulation," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 255(1), pages 525-546, August.
    20. Wang, H. & Zhou, P. & Zhou, D.Q., 2012. "An empirical study of direct rebound effect for passenger transport in urban China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 452-460.

    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:enepol:v:37:y:2009:i:4:p:1356-1371. 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/enpol .

    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.