A new paper co-authored by Professor Steven Sorrell, Co-Director of the Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand (CIED) estimates a direct rebound effect of 50 – 60% for UK freight transport.
Direct rebound effects occur when improvements in fuel efficiency encourage increased demand, offsetting some of the potential energy and carbon savings.
The estimate found in this study, is higher than those obtained by previous studies of road freight and almost twice as large as the consensus estimate of direct rebound effects in car transport.
Using data over the period 1970 to 2014, the study estimated the rebound effect using three different measures and found the results to be broadly consistent. However, the authors emphasise the limitations of this approach and recommend that future studies employ data from vehicle use surveys.
Read the full paper.
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