IREES colloquium: The rabbit in the hat: where do all efficiency gains go? | Dr. Franco Ruzzenenti

Speaker | Dr. F. (Franco) Ruzzenenti, tenure track.

Title | The rabbit in the hat: where do all efficiency gains go?

Abstract | It took decades for the Rebound Effect to be accepted, but now has finally become common knowledge among scholars and practitioners in the field of energy studies, worldwide (and unfortunately not yet so for the layperson or the policy maker). Yet, still there is much to be understood about it and it does not all boil down to either behaviors (direct rebound effect), or income (indirect rebound effect) or factors’ substitution (macroeconomic rebound effect). There is a rebound effect that relates power to efficiency: a more efficient vehicle, if more powerful, will lead to higher consumption, or less savings than expected, independently on how wisely and parsimoniously it is driven. Why is this so important? Because we still take only efficiency rather than power and efficiency as metrics to establish our emission standards. And eventually we get all wrong, like in the case of the so-called Dieselgate.