Dr. Brinda Thomas, CEDM post-doctoral fellow, recently published in the Wall Street Journa
Dr. Brinda Thomas, a CEDM post-doctoral fellow, provided a short response to Robert Michaels piece on rebound effects in the Wall Street Journal. The original OpEd from Michaels can be found here:
The response from Thomas was: “Robert Michaels fails to note the big difference between rebound effects in developing countries and in the developed world. Even if they are well-designed, programs in the developing world, like Mexico’s “Cash for Coolers,” are prone to high rebound effects and limited energy savings because families in these countries have limited access to air conditioning and efficient refrigeration, and their incomes are rising fast. This isn’t a bad thing, since families can also increase their comfort and well-being. In contrast, our research and that of others indicates that rebound effects in the U.S. are modest, less than 25% in most cases. With such a modest rebound effect, well-designed policies to promote energy efficiency in the U.S. clearly make sense.”
URL: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444270404577609491109238020.html?KEYWORDS=Brinda+Thomas
