Imagine you buy a new car that’s incredibly fuel-efficient. Naturally, you’re thrilled—less money on gas, fewer emissions, and a smaller environmental footprint. But here’s the twist: because your car is so cheap to run, you end up driving more. You take longer road trips, drive instead of walking or biking short distances, and maybe even think less about carpooling. In the end, you burn more fuel than you did before. That’s Jevons Paradox in action.
Named after the 19th-century British economist William Stanley Jevons, the paradox highlights an unexpected consequence of improved efficiency: when a resource becomes easier and cheaper to use, we often use more of it, not less. Jevons first noticed this with coal in the 1860s. As steam engines became more efficient and used less coal, coal consumption didn’t drop—it skyrocketed, because now more industries could afford to use them.
It might seem counterintuitive. If a light bulb uses less electricity, shouldn’t that save energy overall? Not necessarily. If those energy-efficient bulbs are cheaper to run, people might leave them on longer, use more lighting overall, or install even more lights. Multiply this effect across millions of homes, businesses, and cities, and suddenly, efficiency leads to higher total energy use.
Jevons Paradox serves as a reminder that technology alone isn’t enough to reduce resource consumption. Without behavioral change or thoughtful regulation, efficiency can unintentionally encourage overuse. It’s not that innovation is bad—in fact, it’s vital. But the paradox tells us that when we make things cheaper or easier, we often need extra measures—like incentives to reduce use or educate consumers—to make sure we get the savings we expect.
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