Mitigation from a cross-sectoral perspective

The talk with present the key results of the IPCC Working Group III 5th assessment report. Concluding four years of intense scientific collaboration by hundreds of authors from around the world, the report responds to the request of the world's governments for a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge on mitigating climate change. The report has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness.

Climate change 2014 - Mitigation of climate change

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides access to information on a variety of topics related to the environment and strives to inform citizens of health risks. The EPA also has an extensive library network that consists of 26 libraries throughout the United States, which provide access to a plethora of information to EPA employees, scientists, and researchers. The EPA implemented a reorganization project to digitize their materials so they would be more accessible to a wider range of users, but this plan was drastically accelerated when the EPA was threatened with a budget cut. It chose to close and reduce the hours and services of some of their libraries. As a result, the agency was accused of denying users the “right to know” by making information unavailable, not providing an adequate strategic plan, and discarding vital materials. This case study explores the background of the digitization project, the practices implemented, and the critiques of the project.

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The Environmental Protection Agency

Energy efficiency and consumption — the rebound effect — a survey

Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy

Feebates, rebates and gas-guzzler taxes: a study of incentives for increased fuel economy

This paper presents an econometric estimation of the rebound effect for household vehicle travel in the US based on analysis of survey data collected by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) at approximately three-year intervals over a 15-year period. The rebound effect measures the tendency to take back potential energy savings from fuel economy improvements as increased travel. Vehicle use models were estimated for one-, two-, three-, four-, and five-vehicle households. The results confirm recent estimates based on national or state-level data: a long-run take back of about 20% of potential energy savings. Consumer responses to changes in fuel economy or fuel price per gallon appear to be equal and opposite in sign. Recognizing the interdependencies among miles of travel, fuel economy and price is key to obtaining meaningful results.

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Fuel Economy Rebound Effect for U.S. Household Vehicles

By reducing the fuel costs of travel, motor vehicle efficiency improvements tend to increase the demand for travel, thereby offsetting some of the energy-saving benefit of the efficiency improvement and creating a "rebound" effect. The key factor is the elasticity of vehicle travel with respect to fuel cost per mile. Past studies offer a wide range of estimates depending on model formulation and time period, with more recent analyses indicating that travel is insensitive to fuel costs and efficiency. This paper analyzes U.S. light-duty vehicle miles travelled from 1966-89, examining a variety of statistical issues that bear on the size of the "rebound" effect, including error structure, functional form, and possible lagged effects. The results consistently confirm that the "rebound" effect has been quite small, about 5-15%, or less; and that short-run (one year) adjustments accounted for essentially all of the change in travel due to fuel price and fuel economy changes. The findings imply that the energy savings of technical fuel economy improvements to cars and light trucks will be only slightly reduced by increased vehicle travel. They also imply that gasoline taxes would need to be very large in order to stimulate significant reductions in travel.

David L. Greene

Papers

Energy efficiency and consumption — the rebound effect — a survey

Feebates, rebates and gas-guzzler taxes: a study of incentives for increased fuel economy

Fuel Economy Rebound Effect for U.S. Household Vehicles

Vehicle Use and Fuel Economy: How Big is the "Rebound" Effect?*

Have we run out of oil yet? Oil peaking analysis from an optimist's perspective