Energy: Science, Policy, and the Pursuit of Sustainability Book

Since I write about energy, I am always reading books about energy-related topics. Among the most interesting books of that genre that I've read lately is Jevons' Paradox and the Myth of Resource Efficiency Improvements, by John M. Polimeni, Kozo Mayumi, Mario Giampetro, and Blake Alcott. The book's thesis is spelled out on page 3, where the authors state, "We aim to show that increased energy efficiency leads to increased demand and consumption of energy."

It's counterintuitive that efficiency increases energy use, but their book is one of numerous studies that confirm the findings of William Stanley Jevons, a British economist, who, in 1865 published a book called The Coal Question, which contains what is now known as the Jevons Paradox: "It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuels is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth."

Since that time, Jevons's work has been examined and re-examined and no reputable scientist has ever refuted it. The Jevons Paradox is perhaps the most important, and yet least understood, concept in the energy business and it has profound implications for the future of the global economy.