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Consumer Surplus from Energy Transitions

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  • Roger Fouquet

Abstract

Energy transitions have led to major advances in human wellbeing. However, little evidence exists about the scale of the net benefits. By developing a new method for identifying the demand curve, this paper estimates the consumer surplus associated with heating, transport and lighting over more than two hundred years and identifies the gains from key energy transitions. For certain energy transitions, the increase was dramatic, reflecting the transformations in society and lifestyles that mobility and illumination provided in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Yet, the net benefits related to heating technologies only rose modestly. Finally, due to saturation effects of the demand for energy services, future technological developments and energy transitions may benefit consumers (though not necessarily society as a whole) less than those in the past.

Suggested Citation

  • Roger Fouquet, 2018. "Consumer Surplus from Energy Transitions," The Energy Journal, , vol. 39(3), pages 167-188, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:39:y:2018:i:3:p:167-188
    DOI: 10.5547/01956574.39.3.rfou
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Measuring Benefits from Energy Transitions
      by tambo0986 in NEP-HIS blog on 2018-02-22 05:57:33

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    3. Saunders, Harry D. & Roy, Joyashree & Azevedo, Inês M.L. & Chakravarty, Debalina & Dasgupta, Shyamasree & De La Rue Du Can, Stephane & Druckman, Angela & Fouquet, Roger & Grubb, Michael & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Energy efficiency: what has research delivered in the last 40 years?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114344, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    5. Whiting, Kai & Carmona, Luis Gabriel & Brand-Correa, Lina & Simpson, Edward, 2020. "Illumination as a material service: A comparison between Ancient Rome and early 19th century London," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    6. Cédric Clastres & Haikel Khalfallah, 2020. "Retailers' strategies facing demand response and markets interactions," Working Papers hal-03167543, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy demand; Energy transition; Technological change; Consumer surplus;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F0 - International Economics - - General

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