John Rae and Thorstein Veblen
Theme:
'display
consumption'. This is otherwise known as conspicuous,
status, prestige or competitive consumption. It logically
knows no limits, and very likely has evolutionary roots.
Alcott,
Blake, 2004.
John Rae
and Thorstein Veblen
Journal of Economic Issues 38 (3):
765-786.
PDF
Theme: the 'rebound effect'.
After technological energy efficiency increases, and whether
it is so large that it eats up all of the theoretically
possible engineering savings.
Alcott,
Blake, 2005
Jevons’ Paradox
Ecological
Economics 54 (1):
9-21. PDF
Theme: Kenneth Boulding’s
seminal 1966 essay
“The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth”, in a special
issue (PDF),
which includes a German translation by Lexi von Hoffmann and
commentaries by Fred Luks, Sabine Höhler, and Blake
Alcott.
Alcott,
Blake, 2006
Kenneth
Bouldings Wegweiser von 1966
Vereinigung für Ökologische
Ö konomie Heft 7: 25-29 PDF
Assessing Energy Policy: Should Rebound Count?
Theme: the ins
and outs of defining 'rebound' and its neglect in evaluation
of environmental energy policy.
As one of the five best dissertations submitted in the 2006
academic year, this was awarded a Masters Prize in Economics
by the WWF and the Environment Agency.
Alcott,
Blake, 2006
Assessing
Energy Policy: Should Rebound Count?
Dissertation for the degree of Masters in
Philosophy
Department of Land Economy, Cambridge University,
England. PDF
Theme: Energy
efficiency is very good for 'affluence' but is an
unproven and probably counter-productive environmental
strategy.
Blake
Alcott und Reinhard Madlener.
Energieeffizienz
ist kein Allheilmittel
Tages Anzeiger (Zürich) vom 4.
April 2007, Seite 11
PDF
Fluch und Segen einer effizienteren Energienutzung
Theme: the
necessity of taking 'rebound' into account in current
European plans to go beyond Kyoto.
Madlener,
Reinhard und Blake Alcott, 2007
Fluch
und Segen einer effizienteren Energienutzung.
Energiewirtschaftliche Tagesfragen 57 Heft 10.
PDF
The sufficiency strategy: Would rich-world frugality lower environmental impact?
Theme: the weaknesses
of the 'sufficiency strategy' to lower
worldwide resource consumption.
Alcott,
Blake, 2008
The
sufficiency strategy: Would rich-world frugality lower
environmental impact?
Ecological Economics 64
(4): 770-786. PDF
Energy rebound and economic
growth:
A review of the issues and research needs
Theme:
methodological problems in measuring
'energy-efficiency rebound'.
Madlener,
Reinhard, and Blake Alcott, 2009
Energy
rebound and economic growth:
A review
of the issues and research needs
Energy 34(3): 370-376.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2008.10.011
[Full text not accessible for copyright
reasons]
Historical Overview of the Jevons Paradox in the Literature: John M. Polimeni, Kozo Mayumi, Mario Giampietro and Blake Alcott (eds.)
Theme: the
views of Jevons’ predecessors
(Smith, Ricardo, Say, Malthus, Rae and Mill) are discussed
concerning as to whether efficient use of resources “saves”
them (saves who/what?).
Alcott,
Blake, 2008
Historical
Overview of the Jevons Paradox in the Literature In:
John M. Polimeni, Kozo Mayumi, Mario
Giampietro and Blake Alcott (eds.)
The Jevons Paradox and the Myth of Resource
Efficiency Improvements.
Earthscan,
London. ISBN 978-1-84407-462-4
[Here not accessible
for copyright reasons]
Ende der Gemütlicht
Theme:
Efficient lightbulbs, solar heating and leaving your wedding
in a rickshaw are painless but ineffective steps to lower
energy consumption. Needed are 'grown-up' measures like rationing or
Pigouvian taxes, even if they lower our affluence.
Blake
Alcott und Kai Michel.
Ende der
Gemütlichkeit
Die Weltwoche (Zürich) 37/09 vom
9. September 2009
Country Carbon Rationing
Impact Caps:
Why population, affluence and technology strategies should
be abandoned
Theme: The famous
formula I≡PAT says that
environmental Impact is a function of Population, Affluence
(consumption per person) and Technology ('how' we produce and
consume). Since lowering any right-side factor enables the
other two to rise, right-side strategies
most likely achieve no lowering of impact. Therefore we should
pursue direct taxation and rationing strategies which are, by
definition, effective.
Alcott,
Blake, 2010
Impact
Caps: Why population,
affluence and
technology strategies should be abandoned.
Journal of Cleaner Production 18:
552-560 PDF