The title of this post is a direct crib from an article on the rebound effect by Peter O'Connor which has been reposted by Rod Janssen. I wish I had coined that statement - it drives right to the heart of the "energy saving" movement. "Energy saving" is used as a proxy for pollution reduction. Really what it's driving at is a reduction in energy conversion and thus the consequential side effects. Conversion of the chemical energy tied up in fossil fuels to mechanical energy in a rotating turbine to electrical energy from a generator results in emissions of CO2, SO2, NOx etc. from the initial combustion process. Provided that energy saving policy is clearly geared to pollution reduction that's fine. It's when objectives come to be distorted that problems arise.
Coming back to Peter's article - it's worth a quick read.
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