Do household energy services affect each other directly? The direct rebound effect of household electricity consumption in Spain

Abstract

We estimate the magnitude of the direct rebound effect (DRE) of households’ electricity consumption in Spain, through an econometric estimation method of panel data. The results indicate a DRE between 26 and 35% in the short run and around 36% in the long run. Moreover, we find a significant influence of other energy sources that appear to be complementary to electricity consumption according to our estimation. Hence, our results suggest that an improvement in the energy efficiency of an energy service may affect its own energy consumption as well as the energy consumption of other energy services. This would entail a new source of DRE.