Workshop:
The Rebound Effect in the Information Society

Dear colleagues,
I would like to invite you to participate in this workshop where you are also most welcome to present a paper. Important topics of the workshop would be:

• Do sustainability concepts that rest on the idea of resource- or energy-efficiency improvements overestimate the potential resource or energy saving because of the rebound effect?
• What are possible "rebound effects" in the Information Society where information technologies are expected to make the economy more sustainable?
• Do rebound effects undermine the sustainability of information technologies?
• Are rebound effects in relation to information technologies different from the rebound effects caused by traditional technologies?
• What kind of technologies are necessary in order to avoid substantial rebound effects?
• Under what institutional arrangements are rebound effects likely to occur/not to occur?

However, further topics concerning the rebound effect could also be included.

In an article I have recently published a paper where I argue that the rebound effect is more important with respect to time-saving innovations than with respect to energy-saving innovations: Technological Progress and Sustainable Development: What about the Rebound Effect?, Ecological Economics 36 (2001): S. 119-132. However, time-saving innovations frequently cause an increase in energy use as a side-effect, which, again, is important in relation to the sustainability issue. However, this effect could be different for information technologies as time-saving applications of information technologies may not lead to an increase in energy use.

If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please give me a notice as soon as possible. Also indicate, if you are interested in presenting a paper. The deadline for submitting papers to this workshop would be March 15th.

Best regards
Mathias Binswanger

Professor of Economics
University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland
Riggenbachstr. 16
4600 Olten
Switzerland