Energy efficiency, economic growth and environment
Résumé
Energy efficiency is a key concern for both industry and policy-makers. In the last decades, it has been considered the main offsetting factor of rising global energy consumption and CO2 emissions. But its importance has let itself been felt since the beginning of industrialization. Increased energy consumption has led simultaneously to technological breakthroughs, which have improved the efficiency of energy use. Although the effects of energy efficiency have been remarkable throughout modern history, there are surprisingly very few studies made on the different historical paths of energy efficiency taken by different countries. This session aims to tackle the topic of energy efficiency in economic history and its importance to both long-run economic growth and the environment.
One goal of this session is to bring together new long-run data and methodological discussions on how to measure energy efficiency of countries or industries. How should we measure technological progress? Economic measures of efficiency, such as primary energy per value added have been criticized by some for not capturing adequately how productively energy is used within the economy. Are engineering measures of efficiency, such as useful energy (Ayres and Warr, 2009) or energy services(Fouquet, 2010) more appropriate to apply in historical contexts?
Another goal for this session is to explore the relationship between energy productivity and economic growth. The importance of energy for economic growth has been stressed in the economic history literature (e.g. Allen 2009; Kander et al. 2013; Wrigley 1988). However, while national differences in labor productivity in various manufacturing sectors have been the focus of many comparative productivity studies (Broadberry, 1997), energy productivity has been relatively neglected. Likewise, growth literature rooted in neoclassical growth models, such as the Solow model, does not include resources or energy as a factor of production, and long-run growth economists (e.g. Galor 2011) do not consider energy at all.
Studies on how energy relates to other factors of production such as labor and capital and attempts to incorporate energy as an explanatory factor of economic development will also be welcomed themes in this session.
This session will also discuss how increases in energy efficiency can become detrimental to the environment. The idea that increases in energy efficiency will tend to increase, rather than decrease energy consumption was first hypothesized by Jevons (1865) in his book the Coal Question. He observed that the increased efficiency of the steam engine had led to savings of coal in particular industrial processes but had at the same time the rebound effect of increased the demand for coal in a variety of new industries that was superior to the initial savings. His argument rested on the intuition that economic savings from increasing energy efficiency would be spent increasing the demand for new energy services. The history of energy transitions and technological innovations is full of examples of this rebound effect. The papers in this session will address energy transitions and energy crises in different contexts, with regards to divergences or convergences between technological and ecological conditions and the role of innovation as a means of redress. Interdisciplinary approaches will be welcome.
Papers:
Management of the Vltava hydrosystem in the medieval and modern kingdom of Bohemia
Sarah Claire, EHESS
The Austrian Pulp and Paper Industries Energy Use in the Context of the European Recovery Program, 1945-1955 (Sofie Mittas, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria)
Production, prices and technology: a historical analysis of the US coal industry (Michael Matheis, Saint Anselm College, US)
Managing human energy : consultancy and its application in European mining industry during the interwar period. (Francesca Sanna, Université Paris-Diderot)
Machinery and Horsepower prices 1850-1913 (Cristian Ducoing, Lund University, Sweden)
Integration in European Coal Markets, 1833-1913 (John E. Murray Rhodes College and Javier Silvestre, University of Saragoza, Spain)
200 years diversifying the energy mix? Diversification paths of the energy baskets of European early comers vs. latecomers (Mar Rubio, Universidade Publica de Navarra, Spain, Beatriz Munoz, Universidade Autonoma de Madrid, Spain)
Energy, knowledge, and demo-economic development in the long run: a Unified growth Model, Victor Court, CERES, Ecole Normale Supérieure, France and Emmanuel Bouvari, Ecole des Ponts ParisTech)