IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v35y2010i12p5269-5276.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rebound effect in Chinese household energy efficiency and solution for mitigating it

Author

Listed:
  • Ouyang, Jinlong
  • Long, Enshen
  • Hokao, Kazunori

Abstract

The current efforts and technologies on energy efficiency seem unable to hold back the increasing momentum of the household energy consumption per unit of China, which has been on the increase since 2000. Usually, this phenomenon is simply attributed to the demand for more comfortable household lifestyle due to the current rapid economic development of China. However, the latent cause—rebound effect has long been ignored in the household energy efficiency of China, while it has been analyzed deeply and recognized widely all over the world. This article studies the rebound effect in the household energy efficiency of China and its related negative influence on the energy demand. A high rebound effect of at least 30% in the household energy efficiency of China is presumed by reference to the rebound effects of other countries. Finally, five feasible ways are summarized to mitigate the rebound effect and their values are analyzed respectively: (1) develop renewable energy resources, (2) increase energy prices, (3) improve energy efficiency, (4) build rational energy prices system, and (5) improve consumer behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Ouyang, Jinlong & Long, Enshen & Hokao, Kazunori, 2010. "Rebound effect in Chinese household energy efficiency and solution for mitigating it," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 5269-5276.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:35:y:2010:i:12:p:5269-5276
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2010.07.038
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544210004135
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2010.07.038?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. Birol, Fatih & Keppler, Jan Horst, 2000. "Prices, technology development and the rebound effect," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 457-469, June.
    2. Lam, Pun-Lee, 2004. "Pricing of electricity in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 287-300.
    3. Llop, Maria, 2008. "Economic impact of alternative water policy scenarios in the Spanish production system: An input-output analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 288-294, December.
    4. Edgar G. Hertwich, 2005. "Consumption and Industrial Ecology," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 9(1‐2), pages 1-6, January.
    5. Barker, Terry & Ekins, Paul & Foxon, Tim, 2007. "The macro-economic rebound effect and the UK economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4935-4946, October.
    6. Roca, Jordi & Serrano, Monica, 2007. "Income growth and atmospheric pollution in Spain: An input-output approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 230-242, June.
    7. Herring, Horace, 1999. "Does energy efficiency save energy? The debate and its consequences," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 209-226, July.
    8. Malik, Arif S., 2007. "Impact on power planning due to demand-side management (DSM) in commercial and government sectors with rebound effect—A case study of central grid of Oman," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(11), pages 2157-2166.
    9. Hanley, Nick & McGregor, Peter G. & Swales, J. Kim & Turner, Karen, 2009. "Do increases in energy efficiency improve environmental quality and sustainability?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 692-709, January.
    10. Kahn, James Randall & Franceschi, Dina, 2006. "Beyond Kyoto: A tax-based system for the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 778-787, July.
    11. Hang, Leiming & Tu, Meizeng, 2007. "The impacts of energy prices on energy intensity: Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2978-2988, May.
    12. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10972 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Howden-Chapman, Philippa & Viggers, Helen & Chapman, Ralph & O'Dea, Des & Free, Sarah & O'Sullivan, Kimberley, 2009. "Warm homes: Drivers of the demand for heating in the residential sector in New Zealand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3387-3399, September.
    14. Mansouri, Iman & Newborough, Marcus & Probert, Douglas, 1996. "Energy consumption in UK households: Impact of domestic electrical appliances," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 211-285, July.
    15. Clinch, J. Peter & Healy, John D., 2003. "Valuing improvements in comfort from domestic energy-efficiency retrofits using a trade-off simulation model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 565-583, September.
    16. Lin, Jiang & Zhou, Nan & Levine, Mark & Fridley, David, 2008. "Taking out 1 billion tons of CO2: The magic of China's 11th Five-Year Plan?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 954-970, March.
    17. Herring, Horace, 2006. "Energy efficiency—a critical view," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 10-20.
    18. Holm, Stig-Olof & Englund, Göran, 2009. "Increased ecoefficiency and gross rebound effect: Evidence from USA and six European countries 1960-2002," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 879-887, January.
    19. de Haan, Peter & Mueller, Michel G. & Peters, Anja, 2006. "Does the hybrid Toyota Prius lead to rebound effects? Analysis of size and number of cars previously owned by Swiss Prius buyers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 592-605, June.
    20. Madlener, R. & Alcott, B., 2009. "Energy rebound and economic growth: A review of the main issues and research needs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 370-376.
    21. Linden, Anna-Lisa & Carlsson-Kanyama, Annika & Eriksson, Bjorn, 2006. "Efficient and inefficient aspects of residential energy behaviour: What are the policy instruments for change?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(14), pages 1918-1927, September.
    22. Taylor, Linda, 1993. "Fuel Poverty: From Cold Homes to Affordable Warmth," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(10), pages 1071-1072, October.
    23. Robèrt, Markus & Hultén, Per & Frostell, Björn, 2007. "Biofuels in the energy transition beyond peak oil," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(11), pages 2089-2098.
    24. Jaccard, Mark & Bataille, Chris, 2000. "Estimating future elasticities of substitution for the rebound debate," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 451-455, June.
    25. Bentzen, Jan, 2004. "Estimating the rebound effect in US manufacturing energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 123-134, January.
    26. Roy, Joyashree, 2000. "The rebound effect: some empirical evidence from India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 433-438, June.
    27. Brannlund, Runar & Ghalwash, Tarek & Nordstrom, Jonas, 2007. "Increased energy efficiency and the rebound effect: Effects on consumption and emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-17, January.
    28. Jin, Sang-Hyeon, 2007. "The effectiveness of energy efficiency improvement in a developing country: Rebound effect of residential electricity use in South Korea," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 5622-5629, November.
    29. Sanne, Christer, 2000. "Dealing with environmental savings in a dynamical economy-how to stop chasing your tail in the pursuit of sustainability," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 487-495, June.
    30. Spalding-Fecher, Randall & Clark, Alix & Davis, Mark & Simmonds, Gillian, 2002. "The economics of energy efficiency for the poor—a South African case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 27(12), pages 1099-1117.
    31. Papathanasopoulou, Eleni & Jackson, Tim, 2009. "Measuring fossil resource inequality--A case study for the UK between 1968 and 2000," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1213-1225, February.
    32. Binswanger, Mathias, 2001. "Technological progress and sustainable development: what about the rebound effect?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 119-132, January.
    33. Haas, Reinhard & Biermayr, Peter, 2000. "The rebound effect for space heating Empirical evidence from Austria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 403-410, June.
    34. Ouyang, Jinlong & Ge, Jian & Hokao, Kazunori, 2009. "Economic analysis of energy-saving renovation measures for urban existing residential buildings in China based on thermal simulation and site investigation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 140-149, January.
    35. Schipper, Lee & Grubb, Michael, 2000. "On the rebound? Feedback between energy intensities and energy uses in IEA countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 367-388, June.
    36. 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.
    37. Wadud, Zia & Graham, Daniel J. & Noland, Robert B., 2009. "Modelling fuel demand for different socio-economic groups," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(12), pages 2740-2749, December.
    38. Edgar G. Hertwich, 2005. "Consumption and the Rebound Effect: An Industrial Ecology Perspective," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 9(1‐2), pages 85-98, January.
    39. Dimitropoulos, John, 2007. "Energy productivity improvements and the rebound effect: An overview of the state of knowledge," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 6354-6363, December.
    40. Boonekamp, Piet G.M., 2006. "Actual interaction effects between policy measures for energy efficiency—A qualitative matrix method and quantitative simulation results for households," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(14), pages 2848-2873.
    41. 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.
    42. Anker-Nilssen, Per, 2003. "Household energy use and the environment--a conflicting issue," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(1-3), pages 189-196, September.
    43. Alcott, Blake, 2005. "Jevons' paradox," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 9-21, July.
    44. Berkhout, Peter H. G. & Muskens, Jos C. & W. Velthuijsen, Jan, 2000. "Defining the rebound effect," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 425-432, 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. Liu, Jingru & Sun, Xin & Lu, Bin & Zhang, Yunkun & Sun, Rui, 2016. "The life cycle rebound effect of air-conditioner consumption in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1026-1032.
    2. Michael Huesemann & Joyce Huesemann, 2008. "Will progress in science and technology avert or accelerate global collapse? A critical analysis and policy recommendations," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 10(6), pages 787-825, December.
    3. Toroghi, Shahaboddin H. & Oliver, Matthew E., 2019. "Framework for estimation of the direct rebound effect for residential photovoltaic systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Broberg, Thomas & Berg, Charlotte & Samakovlis, Eva, 2015. "The economy-wide rebound effect from improved energy efficiency in Swedish industries–A general equilibrium analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 26-37.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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).
    8. Oikonomou, V. & Becchis, F. & Steg, L. & Russolillo, D., 2009. "Energy saving and energy efficiency concepts for policy making," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4787-4796, November.
    9. de Haan, Peter & Mueller, Michel G. & Peters, Anja, 2006. "Does the hybrid Toyota Prius lead to rebound effects? Analysis of size and number of cars previously owned by Swiss Prius buyers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 592-605, June.
    10. Wang, Zhaohua & Han, Bai & Lu, Milin, 2016. "Measurement of energy rebound effect in households: Evidence from residential electricity consumption in Beijing, China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 852-861.
    11. 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.
    12. David I. Stern, 2010. "The Role of Energy in Economic Growth," CCEP Working Papers 0310, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    13. 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.
    14. Figge, Frank & Thorpe, Andrea Stevenson, 2019. "The symbiotic rebound effect in the circular economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 61-69.
    15. 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.
    16. Matthew E. Oliver & Juan Moreno-Cruz & Ross C. Beppler, 2019. "Microeconomics of the rebound effect for residential solar photovoltaic systems," CESifo Working Paper Series 7635, CESifo.
    17. Koesler, Simon & Swales, Kim & Turner, Karen, 2014. "Beyond national economy-wide rebound effects: An applied general equilibrium analysis incorporating international spillover effects," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-025, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    18. Alcott, Blake, 2008. "The sufficiency strategy: Would rich-world frugality lower environmental impact," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 770-786, February.
    19. Freire-González, Jaume, 2017. "Evidence of direct and indirect rebound effect in households in EU-27 countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 270-276.
    20. Hong, Li & Liang, Dong & Di, Wang, 2013. "Economic and environmental gains of China's fossil energy subsidies reform: A rebound effect case study with EIMO model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 335-342.

    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:energy:v:35:y:2010:i:12:p:5269-5276. 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.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    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.