Jevons Paradox and The Fallacy of "Benign Consumption"

This weekend's Wall Street Journal has a piece by author David Owen on "the Prius Fallacy: Pretending that more 'benign' consumption is good for the environment."

It has some wonderful illustrations of the Jevons Paradox, or how more efficiency leads to more, not less, consumption.  It's short and worth reading through, but here are a couple of choice quotes,

"A favorite trick of people who consider themselves friends of the environment is reframing luxury consumption preferences as gifts to humanity.  A new car, a solar-powered swimming-pool heater, a 200-mile-an-hour train that makes intercity travel more pleasant and less expensive, better-tasting tomatoes—these are the sacrifices we're prepared to make for the future of the planet.  Our capacity for self-deception can be breathtaking."

and

"Even when we act with what we believe to be the best of intentions, our efforts are often at cross-purposes with our goals.  Increasing the efficiency of lighting encourages us to illuminate more.  Relieving traffic congestion reduces the appeal of public transit and fuels the growth of suburban sprawl.  A robust market for ethanol exacerbates global hunger by diverting cropland from the production of food."

As for "reframing luxury consumption preferences as gifts to humanity," I developed a whole business plan using that theme.