In a recent paper published in Energy Policy, Dr. Juan Moreno-Cruz from the School of Eocnomics and his co-authors Dr. Xuewei Yu and Dr. John C. Crittenden, both from the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems at Georiga Institute of Technology, explore the effects of efficiency shocks on the economy and find that not all rebound effects are created equal. They investigate economy-wide energy rebound effects by developing a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Georgia, USA. The model adopts a highly disaggregated sector profile and highlights the substitution possibilities between different energy sources in the production structure. They find that with economy-wide energy efficiency improvement on the production side, economy-wide rebound is moderate. Energy price levels fall very slightly, yet sectors respond to these changing prices quite differently in terms of local production and demand. Energy efficiency improvements in particular sectors (epicenters) induce quite different economy-wide impacts.

This is the first of a series of papers on regional energy production and consumption that are part of Dr. Xuewei Yu's PhD dissertation. This research is funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

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