He argued that, contrary to common intuition, technological progress could not be relied upon to reduce fuel consumption. In 1865, the English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that technological improvements that increased the efficiency of coal use led to the increased consumption of coal in a wide range of industries. However, governments and environmentalists generally assume that efficiency gains will lower resource consumption, ignoring the possibility of the effect arising. The Jevons effect is perhaps the most widely known paradox in environmental economics. In economics, the Jevons paradox ( / ˈ dʒ ɛ v ə n z/ sometimes Jevons effect) occurs when technological progress or government policy increases the efficiency with which a resource is used (reducing the amount necessary for any one use), but the falling cost of use increases its demand, increasing, rather than reducing, resource use. Improved technology allowed coal to fuel the Industrial Revolution, greatly increasing the consumption of coal. Coal-burning factories in 19th-century Manchester, England.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |