2 ms·

Efficiency savings make no difference to aggregated demand so that is irrelevant. See Jevon's Paradox, which absolutely applies to electricity.

• ethbr1 1y ago
  So you're saying people will install two water heaters if they buy a more efficient one? Not sure this is the elastic droid that paradox is looking for.
  • mike_hearn 1y ago
    No, that's not what I'm saying. Jevon's Paradox has a good Wikipedia page that describes the problem. Efficiency improvements don't reduce consumption in aggregate, because the lower demand causes lower prices that then unlock new use cases that create more demand that pushes up usage again.
    • ethbr1 1y ago
      As the wikipedia page points out, this assumes a highly price elastic good. Household energy use is not such a good, because most uses have fixed utility. Very few people are going to cool their house down to 10C because the price of cooling to 15C decreased. Nor is their overall energy use budget-capped. (Outside of low income AC and/or heating use cases)
      • mike_hearn 1y ago
        You started by talking about electricity usage, which is fungible and elastic. There's no dedicated grid for household electricity so Jevons Paradox certainly applies.
        • ethbr1 1y ago
          > Nor is their overall energy use budget-capped. (Outside of low income AC and/or heating use cases)