The rebound effect on energy efficiency improvements in China’s transportation sector: A CGE analysis
Energy use is becoming more efficient due to technological innovations. We focused on the transportation sector in China to develop a national multisector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for analyzing the rebound effect from an improvement of 10% in the energy efficiency. We compared the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Management Science and Engineering |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2096232020300500 |
| _version_ | 1819295908706123776 |
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| author | Huibin Du Zhenni Chen Zengkai Zhang Frank Southworth |
| author_facet | Huibin Du Zhenni Chen Zengkai Zhang Frank Southworth |
| author_sort | Huibin Du |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Energy use is becoming more efficient due to technological innovations. We focused on the transportation sector in China to develop a national multisector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for analyzing the rebound effect from an improvement of 10% in the energy efficiency. We compared the size of the energy rebound effect at both the macroeconomic and sectoral levels in different transportation modal subsectors, namely rail, road, water, and air travel. The findings showed that the magnitude of the rebound effect varies across the transportation modes. This is particularly true for the air transportation sector, which has an economy-wide rebound effect of 30.1% and an own-sector rebound effect of 74.6% because of a sharp increase in the export demand for air transport services. We also quantitatively evaluated the contribution of energy efficiency improvement in the transportation sector to China’s economic growth and carbon reductions and found a positive dividend effect on the economy as well as the environment. The modeling results suggest that improving overall transportation energy efficiency by 10% generates an economy-wide welfare gain of approximately 29 billion yuan, while 19 billion yuan are attributable to a more efficient road transportation subsector. Furthermore, to offset the effects of these mode-specific rebound effects, we simulated the effectiveness of different policies and solutions. These included economic instruments in the form of energy, environmental, and carbon taxes, household transport consumption structure adjustments, and energy structure adjustments. This study revealed that combining these sustainable development policies offers opportunities for economy-wide multisectoral improvements in energy savings, emissions reduction, and economic benefits. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T04:49:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-587f06374bd449edbccdbc678e279854 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2096-2320 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T04:49:42Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Management Science and Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-587f06374bd449edbccdbc678e2798542022-12-21T17:14:34ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Journal of Management Science and Engineering2096-23202020-12-0154249263The rebound effect on energy efficiency improvements in China’s transportation sector: A CGE analysisHuibin Du0Zhenni Chen1Zengkai Zhang2Frank Southworth3College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China; Center for Energy & Environmental Policy Research, Institute of Science and Management, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, ChinaCollege of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China; School of Economics and Finance, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049, ChinaCollege of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China; Corresponding author.School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 790 Atlantic Drive, SEB Building, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USAEnergy use is becoming more efficient due to technological innovations. We focused on the transportation sector in China to develop a national multisector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for analyzing the rebound effect from an improvement of 10% in the energy efficiency. We compared the size of the energy rebound effect at both the macroeconomic and sectoral levels in different transportation modal subsectors, namely rail, road, water, and air travel. The findings showed that the magnitude of the rebound effect varies across the transportation modes. This is particularly true for the air transportation sector, which has an economy-wide rebound effect of 30.1% and an own-sector rebound effect of 74.6% because of a sharp increase in the export demand for air transport services. We also quantitatively evaluated the contribution of energy efficiency improvement in the transportation sector to China’s economic growth and carbon reductions and found a positive dividend effect on the economy as well as the environment. The modeling results suggest that improving overall transportation energy efficiency by 10% generates an economy-wide welfare gain of approximately 29 billion yuan, while 19 billion yuan are attributable to a more efficient road transportation subsector. Furthermore, to offset the effects of these mode-specific rebound effects, we simulated the effectiveness of different policies and solutions. These included economic instruments in the form of energy, environmental, and carbon taxes, household transport consumption structure adjustments, and energy structure adjustments. This study revealed that combining these sustainable development policies offers opportunities for economy-wide multisectoral improvements in energy savings, emissions reduction, and economic benefits.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2096232020300500Transportation sectorEnergy efficiencyRebound effectCGE model |
| spellingShingle | Huibin Du Zhenni Chen Zengkai Zhang Frank Southworth The rebound effect on energy efficiency improvements in China’s transportation sector: A CGE analysis Journal of Management Science and Engineering Transportation sector Energy efficiency Rebound effect CGE model |
| title | The rebound effect on energy efficiency improvements in China’s transportation sector: A CGE analysis |
| title_full | The rebound effect on energy efficiency improvements in China’s transportation sector: A CGE analysis |
| title_fullStr | The rebound effect on energy efficiency improvements in China’s transportation sector: A CGE analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | The rebound effect on energy efficiency improvements in China’s transportation sector: A CGE analysis |
| title_short | The rebound effect on energy efficiency improvements in China’s transportation sector: A CGE analysis |
| title_sort | rebound effect on energy efficiency improvements in china s transportation sector a cge analysis |
| topic | Transportation sector Energy efficiency Rebound effect CGE model |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2096232020300500 |
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