Energy efficiency and the rebound effect

In recent years the argument that rebound effects, triggered by economy-wide price and income effects, may partially or wholly offset reductions in energy consumption expected from energy efficiency improvements has gained a great deal of attention in both academic and policy arenas. In the UK, a report by the House of Lords (2005) raised the question as to whether this argument provides an explanation as to why total energy consumption in the UK hasn’t fallen in line with increased energy efficiency. In response, the UK Research Councils have funded research, first through the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) and now at the University of Strathclyde to investigate the conditions under which rebound effects may occur in the UK economy

How can we measure Scotland’s footprint? (and, once we have, what do we do with it?)

Recent months have seen a great deal of interest and consultation in Scotland regarding environmental and carbon accounting in general, and the calculation and use of ecological and carbon footprints in particular. Ecological footprints are concerned with the global impacts of our consumption decisions in terms of resource use (most commonly focussing on land use), while carbon footprints are concerned with the pollution side of the equation, carbon emissions around the world engendered by our consumption activities. Footprint measures are powerful pedagogic tools for raising interest in, and awareness of, ecological and sustainability issues, and have some valuable characteristics

A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis of the Relative Price Sensitivity Required to Induce Rebound Effects in Response to an Improvement in Energy Efficiency in the UK Economy

In recent years there has been extensive debate in the energy economics and policy literature on the likely impacts of improvements in energy efficiency. This debate has focussed on the notion of rebound effects. Rebound effects occur when improvements in energy efficiency actually stimulate the direct and indirect demand for energy in production and/or consumption. This phenomenon occurs through the impact of the increased efficiency on the effective, or implicit, price of energy. If demand is stimulated in this way, the anticipated reduction in energy use, and the consequent environmental benefits, will be partially or possibly even more than wholly (in the case of ‘backfire’ effects) offset. A recent report published by the UK House of Lords identifies rebound effects as a plausible explanation as to why recent improvements in energy efficiency in the UK have not translated to reductions in energy demand at the macroeconomic level, but calls for empirical investigation of the factors that govern the extent of such effects.Undoubtedly the single most important conclusion of recent analysis in the UK, led by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) is that the extent of rebound and backfire effects is always and everywhere an empirical issue. It is simply not possible to determine the degree of rebound and backfire from theoretical considerations alone, notwithstanding the claims of some contributors to the debate. In particular, theoretical analysis cannot rule out backfire. Nor, strictly, can theoretical considerations alone rule out the other limiting case, of zero rebound, that a narrow engineering approach would imply. In this paper we use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) framework to investigate the conditions under which rebound effects may occur in the Scottish regional and UK national economies. Previous work has suggested that rebound effects will occur even where key elasticities of substitution in production are set close to zero. Here, we carry out a systematic sensitivity analysis, where we gradually introduce relative price sensitivity into the system, focusing in particular on elasticities of substitution in production and trade parameters, in order to determine conditions under which rebound effects become a likely outcome. We find that, while there is positive pressure for rebound effects even where (direct and indirect) demand for energy is very price inelastic, this may be partially or wholly offset by negative income and disinvestment effects, which also occur in response to falling energy prices.CGE modelling, energy efficiency, rebound effects

The Space Between Shared Understandings of the Teaching of Grammar in English and French to Year 7 Learners: Student Teachers Working Collaboratively

In this article, we describe a small scale research project in which an English and a French student teacher on our Postgraduate Certificate of Education course work collaboratively to develop their personal knowledge and understanding of grammar and its role in teaching both subjects to 11 year old learners in an English comprehensive school. The project begins with university-based discussions about the role of grammar in language learning as expressed in a number of government documents and professional journals and continues in school with lesson observation by students of experienced teachers and of each other. Ways in which the cross-language focus beneficially influenced their classroom practice are suggested. The article concludes with the discussion of a number of issues about planning for language development and teaching about language across the curriculum which arise from the project and makes some modest proposals for a way forward within government policy which remains separatist

How do improvements in labour productivity in the Scottish economy affect the UK position on the Environmental Kuznets Curve?

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis focuses on the argument that rising prosperity will eventually be accompanied by falling pollution levels as a result of one or more of three factors: (1) structural change in the economy; (2) demand for environmental quality increasing at a more-than-proportional rate; (3) technological progress. Here, we focus on the third of these. In previous work we have used single region/nation models of the Scottish and UK economies to simulate the impacts of increased labour and energy efficiency on the domestic economy’s position on the EKC, with a specific focus on CO2 emissions. There we find that, while the impacts of an increase in energy efficiency are difficult to predict, mainly due to the potential for ‘rebound’ effects, while increasing CO2 emissions, improved labour productivity is likely to move an economy along its EKC through more rapid GDP growth. However, recent developments in the EKC literature have raised the issue of whether this will still be the case if emissions are accounted for from a consumption rather than a production perspective (the ‘pollution leakage’ hypothesis) – i.e. taking account of indirect pollution generation embodied in trade flows rather than just domestic emissions generation. Here we extend our earlier single region analysis for Scotland by using an interregional CGE model of the UK economy to examine the likely impacts of an increase in Scottish labour productivity on the rest of the UK and on a national EKC through interregional labour migration and trade flows.computable general equilibrium; technological progress; environmental kuznets curve; pollution leakage

Playing it real in a virtual context: developing sustainable connections to university

For teachers from within the early childhood education and care sector, working with children and families in the current societal context has become increasingly problematic (Gardner, 1999, 2003; Prout, 2003a, 2003b). From one standpoint, research has indicated that much of the difficulty associated with working in this field is symptomatic of the uncertainty, discontinuity and insecurity characteristic of the post-modern condition (Dahlgren & Chiriac, 2009; Hulqvist & Dahlberg, 2001; Jenks, 1996a, 1996b; Lyotard, 1984; Prout, 2003a, 2003b). As authors of this paper, whilst we agree with this particular standpoint, it can be argued that the aforementioned perspective can be seen as an over-simplification of the problems in the ECEC field. While the characteristics of the post-modern condition may be considered to be at the heart of some of these problems, the complexities of current policy reform, the demands of neo-liberal approaches to the provision of care and education (Ball, 2003; Beck, 1999; Hulqvist, 1998; Popkewitz, 2000; Rose, 1999, 2000), as well as a lack of understanding of current contexts for children and their families compound the present state of play across the sector (Moss, 2003; Prout, 2003a). Thus, new demands are evident for teachers in the ECEC field in relation to both personal and professional skill development. Therefore preparation for understanding the impact these contexts have on their identity development is critical to evaluating pre-service educator’s university experiences in contract with the reality of the rural practice context. On the grounds that learners view and interpret new information and experiences through their existing network of knowledge, experience and beliefs (Dahlgren & Chiriac, 2009; Darling-Hammond, 1997; Helm, 2006), the project’s design acknowledges and anticipates that the beginner teachers' experiences will be shaped, in part, by what they 'bring' to those experiences, including their initial choices to enter the profession, and their prior conceptions and expectations about teaching and initial teacher preparation (Helm, 2006). In this case study, juxtaposition between preconceptions and expectations of pre-service teacher education and early experiences as beginning teacher in a rural Australian context are explored and the key research questions guiding data interrogation include: o What are the connections between your initial expectations about becoming a teacher and commencing your university studies and the reality of teaching in a rural context? o How has this influenced or shaped your professional identity and learning? o How has the rural context impacted upon the manifestation of the curriculum, impacting your professional decisions and development? o How do you use the knowledge, skills and abilities developed at University in your professional context? o What have you learned about yourself as an individual as well as you as a professional? What will you do differently now as an outcome of your professional learning thus far? A model of critical reflection is used to interrogate the data from interviews and facebook postings over a 2 year period. Key themes emerged and these relate to the concept of teacher identity, the role of relationships, a sense of agency, the notion of relevance, and the central presence of emotion. In this paper these themes are presented as core features of the experience of 'becoming a teacher'

The evaluation of national accounting matrices with environmental accounts (NAMEA) as a methodology for carrying out a sustainability assessment of the Scottish food and drink sector

This report introduces environmental input-output (IO) accounts for Scotland as an example of a NAMEA framework. It provides an introduction to the use of basic IO multiplier methodology, which can be applied to examine pollution/waste generation and/or resource use under production and consumption accounting principles

Energy Saving Innovations and Economy Wide Rebound Effects : Research Briefing 01

Improved energy efficiency is generally recognised as the most important and cost-effective route to addressing the energy trilemma. The IEA estimate that energy efficiency gains could contribute approximately 70% of global emission reductions in the period to 2020, and ~50% in the period to 2035. EU member states have agreed legally binding targets to improve energy efficiency and the UK has developed a wide-ranging energy efficiency strategy that includes policies for all sectors of the economy.But economies are complex and dynamic systems and energy efficiency improvements frequently fail to deliver the anticipated energy and emission savings. This is largely due to a variety of mechanisms known as ‘rebound effects’ which can reduce the energy and emission savings achieved. In some cases, rebound effects may even lead to an overall increase in energy consumption. Unless such effects are better understood and addressed, the UK and other countries may fail to meet their energy and emission targets. The Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand (CIED) is investigating the source, nature and magnitude of rebound effects in a number of UK sectors. Led by the Centre for Energy Policy at the University of Strathclyde, this new project on economy wide rebound effects significantly extends CIED’s work. The project investigates the impact of energy efficiency improvements throughout the UK economy and along international supply chains, as well as using sophisticated multi-sector macroeconomic models to capture a much wider range of economic effects