Why is efficiency improvement ineffective in alleviating energy poverty? The nonnegligible rebound effect

Penghu Zhu () and Boqiang Lin ()
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Penghu Zhu: Shandong University, Institute of Blue and Green Development
Boqiang Lin: Xiamen University, School of Management, China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, Collaborative Innovation Center for Energy Economics and Energy Policy

Annals of Operations Research, 2025, vol. 355, issue 1, No 20, 579-598

Abstract: Abstract Energy poverty is a crucial challenge to global sustainable development. Energy efficiency is considered an essential means to alleviate energy poverty, but there is still insufficient quantitative evidence on its poverty reduction effect. This paper investigates the impact of energy efficiency on energy poverty and examines the offsetting effect of the rebound effect by applying the Chinese general social survey (CGSS) dataset in 2018. The results show that improving energy efficiency can significantly reduce energy poverty, and that energy demand act as a channel of influence. Moreover, the poverty reduction effect of urban residents is greater than that of rural residents. Furthermore, the rebound effect will significantly reduce the poverty reduction effect of energy efficiency. For China, the rebound effect will reduce the poverty reduction effect by 61.4% on average. These findings are robust after a variety of alternative checks. This paper provides some quantitative insights for dealing with energy poverty.

Keywords: Energy efficiency; Energy poverty; Rebound effect; Chinese general social survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s10479-023-05705-8

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