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Energy efficiency just leaves more money to squander, says study

Posted at 2:19 PM on 29 Nov 2007

As more and more vehicles and appliances become energy efficient, Americans save money -- then spend that money on more and bigger vehicles and appliances, a new study finds. Sigh.

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Comments: (9 comments)

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If you want the full report...

...it's here

by Jon Rynn at 3:37 PM on 29 Nov 2007

Of course

I've actually had this argument with a few of my friends recently. They keep saying that forcing energy efficiency on people will solve the problem. However, history has not reflected this. Every time we increase efficiency of something, people just buy the next size up because they can now afford it. It's sad, but it's reality. Combined with the fact that 40% of Americans don't believe that global warming is man made, and that 20% of those who do aren't willing to significantly change their lives, we can expect consumption to increase no matter what kind of efficiency we reach. The only way to solve the problem is to solve where people get they're energy. Let's hope projects like Google's can help.

by sleepkreep at 8:23 PM on 29 Nov 2007

I'm afraid it will take rationing

Eventually we'll have to figure out a fair way to alot energy and resources. One scheme is Tradable Energy Quotas. The personal quotas are tradable and so set up a marketplace whereby the "energy-lean" can be justly rewarded. This would dis-encentivize large houses and gas-guzzlers.

by Colin Wright at 9:48 PM on 29 Nov 2007

Yeap pretty much

It's Jevon's Paradox in full swing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox

-David Ahlport

by GreyFlcn at 11:19 PM on 29 Nov 2007

More than meets the eye....

It's not solely the savings earned from energy efficiency that is a factor here. There are also social and economic factors that caused the change.

by Tasermons Partner at 11:23 PM on 29 Nov 2007

People Drive Further Too

Just as bad, the more efficient vehicles are, the further people drive which leads to sprawl. Likely, the first people to get hybrids, besides people that want to appear green, are people with long commutes. This allows them to continue to drive far instead of moving closer to work.

by racc at 12:30 AM on 30 Nov 2007

I think it's the other way around...

People wantin' to drive further due to energy efficient vehicles doesn't cause sprawl. Sprawl comes first, which causes people to drive further which, in turn, (and amongst other factors) leads to demand for more energy-efficient vehicles.

by Tasermons Partner at 8:23 AM on 30 Nov 2007

This is why we have governments

People very clearly will spread out and use more, the easier and cheaper it is to do so. That's why things like sprawl need to be heavily regulated.

by s5 at 8:48 AM on 30 Nov 2007

Efficiency Is Not About Conservation

I appreciate everyone's comments, but energy efficiency is not about conservation...nor is about deprivation. This why the State of California funded different campaign projects to stress the difference between the two - conservation (e.g., shutting the lights off) has a different objective that the long-term efforts of efficiency (screwing in a CFL). While I think this report makes a good point - it also misses the point and fails to make a solid correlation. In California, where we've had 30+ years of tough building codes AND $$$ incentives for adopting energy efficiency, our use has stayed flat for the last several years while our population rose and economy grew.

http://blog.bitepr.com/

by Kristina Skierka at 3:55 PM on 30 Nov 2007

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