Energy Efficiency: The Jevons Paradox. By Charles Komanoff, Grist, 12/15/10. “One of the most penetrating critiques of energy-efficiency dogma you'll ever read is in this week's New Yorker [the 12/20/10 issue]. The Efficiency Dilemma, by David Owen, has this provocative subtitle: ‘If our machines use less energy, will we just use them more?’ Owen's answer is a resounding, iconoclastic, and probably correct Yes. Owen's thesis is that as a society becomes more energy-efficient, it becomes downright inefficient not to use more. The pursuit of efficiency is smart for individuals and businesses but a dead end for energy and climate policy. This idea isn't wholly original. It's known as the Jevons paradox, and it has a 150-year history of provoking bursts of discussion before being repressed from social consciousness.
“What Owen adds to the thread is considerable, however: a fine narrative arc; the conceptual feat of elevating the paradox from the micro level, where it is rebuttable, to the macro, where it is more robust; a compelling case study; and the courage to take on energy efficiency guru Amory Lovins…Best of all, Owen offers a way out: raising fuel prices via energy taxes… We can thank Owen not only for raising a critical, central question about energy efficiency, with potential ramifications for energy and climate policy, but for giving us a brief -- an eloquent and powerful one -- for a carbon tax.”
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