Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/129008 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
WIFO Working Papers No. 463
Publisher: 
Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), Vienna
Abstract: 
Energy conservation is widely accepted as an important strategy to combat climate change. It can, nevertheless, stimulate new energy uses that partly offset the original savings. This is known as rebound. One particular rebound mechanism is re-spending of money savings associated with energy savings on energy intensive goods or services. We calculate the average magnitude of this "re-spending rebound" for different fuels and countries. We find that emerging economies, neglected in past studies, typically have substantially larger rebounds than OECD countries. The effect is generally stronger for gasoline than for natural gas and electricity. Paradoxically, strengthening financial incentives to conserve energy tends to increase rebound. This is expected to gain importance with climate regulation and peak oil. We discuss the policy implications of our findings.
Subjects: 
rebound effect
re-spending
emerging economies
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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