DOES RESOURCE EFFICIENCY LEAD TO SUSTAINABILITY? REFLECTIONS ON THE JEVONS PARADOX

摘要

Central to the renewable energy discourse is a focus on improvements in energy efficiency as a major strategy for moving towards a future sustainable society. Yet the savings from energy efficiency do not happen in a vacuum. As opposed to efficiency generated savings, the take-back effect, whereby both the demand and supply-side monetary savings from efficiency measures are re-invested into energy-intensive pursuits, has been estimated at anywhere from 10% to over 100% (The Jevons Paradox). As scientists and designers, we understand the effects of efficiency as inextricable from the context of multiple intersecting complex adaptive systems. We propose a concrete on-the-ground operational system that establishes a new paradigm of development - a city that in both form and function is dynamically responsive to the synergistic and cumulative effects of human actions in a world of limited environmental resources. By flipping conventional analytical tools on their head, we create a holistic game-based approach to resource and waste issues. This allows sustainabil-ity to become an answer to the question: "Building different socially and scientifically generated design scenarios, how can we manage available ecological resources to support the highest sustainable quality of life among our citizens?"