Jevons paradox is based on Stanley Jevons’s observations (1875) that as industry found ways to
use coal more efficiently, their total use of coal increased (Clark & Foster, 2001). York (2006) suggests
that this is a common phenomenon and that often environmental “fixes” such as greater
efficiency and the development of more environmentally friendly substitutes (i.e., renewables) may
lead to growing resource consumption rather than conservation. He notes that the rising efficiency of
automobile engines over the past few decades was used (at least in the United States) to make larger,
more powerful vehicles (e.g., SUVs) rather than ones that got better gas mileage and, thus, fuel consumption
in the United States increased. Similarly, he describes the “paperless office paradox,”
where computers that were thought to decrease demands for paper actually increased paper consumption
in offices. The overall point is “that although, obviously, improvements in efficiency and
utilization of substitutes will reduce consumption of a resource all else being equal (i.e., if the scale
of production remains constant), economies are complex and dynamic systems with innumerable
interactions among factors” (York, 2006, p. 146). This complexity is what makes it difficult to predict
how changes in environmental actions at the organizational level will impact systemwide
environmental outcomes that are likely to be emergent in character.
Jevons paradox is based on Stanley Jevons’s observations (1875) that as industry found ways touse coal more efficiently, their total use of coal increased (Clark & Foster, 2001). York (2006) suggeststhat this is a common phenomenon and that often environmental “fixes” such as greaterefficiency and the development of more environmentally friendly substitutes (i.e., renewables) maylead to growing resource consumption rather than conservation. He notes that the rising efficiency ofautomobile engines over the past few decades was used (at least in the United States) to make larger,more powerful vehicles (e.g., SUVs) rather than ones that got better gas mileage and, thus, fuel consumptionin the United States increased. Similarly, he describes the “paperless office paradox,”where computers that were thought to decrease demands for paper actually increased paper consumptionin offices. The overall point is “that although, obviously, improvements in efficiency andutilization of substitutes will reduce consumption of a resource all else being equal (i.e., if the scaleof production remains constant), economies are complex and dynamic systems with innumerableinteractions among factors” (York, 2006, p. 146). This complexity is what makes it difficult to predicthow changes in environmental actions at the organizational level will impact systemwideenvironmental outcomes that are likely to be emergent in character.
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