Empirical analysis on energy rebound effect from the perspective of technological progress—a case study of China's transport sector

Abstract

Energy rebound effect is a major issue in energy economics. Global energy and environmental problems have compelled the need for simultaneous attainment of economic development and energy conservation. Technological progress increases energy efficiency and saves energy, but it also causes energy rebound effect which discounts the expected energy conservation. China's transport sector is energy-intensive. Therefore, investigating rebound effect in China's transport sector has a very important significance for energy conservation and the formulation of related policies. Taking China's transport sector as a case study, we used translog production function to measure the contribution rate of technological progress to output growth, and estimated the rebound effect. The results show that the average rebound effect was about 68.3% during 1981–2015. Finally, we provided relevant policy recommendations on the rebound effect based on the characteristics of energy use in China's transport sector.