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The rebound effect through industrial ecology’s eyes: a review of LCA-based studies

  • LCI METHODOLOGY AND DATABASES
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Abstract

Purpose

Industrial ecology academics have embraced with great interest the rebound effect principle operationalised within energy economics. By pursuing more comprehensive assessments, they applied tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) to appraise the environmental consequences of the rebound effect. As a result, the mainstream rebound mechanism was broadened and a diversity of (sometimes inconsistent) definitions and approaches unveiled. To depict the state of play, a comprehensive literature review is needed.

Methods

A literature review has been carried out by targeting scientific documents relevant for the integration of the rebound effect into LCA-based studies. The search was conducted using two approaches: (1) via online catalogues using a defined search criterion and (2) via cross-citation analysis from the documents identified through the first approach.

Results and discussion

By analysing a total of 42 works yielded during our review, it was possible to bring together the various advantages of the life cycle perspective, as well as to identify the main inconsistencies and uninformed claims present in literature. Concretely, three main advantages have been identified and are discussed: (1) the representation of the rebound effect as a multi-dimensional, life cycle estimate, (2) the improvement of the technology explicitness and (3) the broadening of the consumption and production factors leading to the rebound effect. Also, inconsistencies on the definition and classification of the rebound effect have been found among studies.

Conclusions

The review contributes a number of valuable insights to understand how the rebound effect has been treated within the industrial ecology and LCA fields. For instance, the conceptual and methodological refinements introduced by these fields represent a step forward from traditional viewpoints, making the study of the rebound effect more comprehensive and meaningful for environmental assessment and policy making. However, the broadened scope of this new approach unveiled some conceptual inconsistencies, which calls for a common framework. This framework would help the LCA community to consistently integrate the rebound effect as well as to create a common language with other disciplines, favouring learning and co-evolution. We believe that our findings can serve as a starting point in order to delineate such a common framework.

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Notes

  1. A general definition and the description of the main types of rebound effects identified in literature can be found in Sect. 2.

  2. Although initially the rebound effect was conceived as a positive change (increase) in consumption, some scholars have theorised a negative rebound effect following the same mechanics (Binswanger 2001), for instance, in those cases in which the technological change entails a decrease in income (more expensive technology), leading to reduced consumption.

  3. The rebound effect framework from energy economics is framed within neo-classical economic principles (Berkhout et al. 2000). It thus bears noting that the representation of consumer behaviour from economic models is limited by the simplifications of such principles (e.g. choices made under full relevant information).

  4. This approach permits to survey documents in which rebound effects are not explicitly mentioned due to the use of alternative terminologies (such as “ripple” effects [see Sect. 3.2]).

  5. Categories are not exclusive and may be present in various studies simultaneously.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been undertaken within the framework of the Environmental Macro Indicators of Innovation (EMInInn) project, a collaborative project funded through the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7) (grant agreement no. 283002). The authors would like to thank René Kemp, Jaume Freire-González and two anonymous reviewers for their comments.

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  1. Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, 2300 RA, Leiden, Netherlands

    David Font Vivanco & Ester van der Voet

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  1. David Font Vivanco
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  2. Ester van der Voet
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Correspondence to David Font Vivanco.

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Font Vivanco, D., van der Voet, E. The rebound effect through industrial ecology’s eyes: a review of LCA-based studies. Int J Life Cycle Assess 19, 1933–1947 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-014-0802-6

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