Jevons paradox

High school (ages 12+)
Mathematics & Numbers

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/jevons-paradox

1. What is the economic principle?
2. What is the originator?
3. Why does using less coal in engines sometimes make people use more coal overall?
4. How can LED lights be less efficient?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the economic principle?Technological improvements in resource efficiency can lead to increased total resource consumption
2. What is the originator?William Stanley Jevons
3. Why does using less coal in engines sometimes make people use more coal overall?Because the engines become cheaper to run, so more factories and trains use them, which means more coal is needed.
4. How can LED lights be less efficient?LEDs use less energy per light, but people might turn them on longer or add more lights, so the total energy used can stay the same.

Price Elasticity of Demand: The responsiveness of the quantity demanded to a change in price.
Resource Depletion: The consumption of a resource faster than it can be naturally replenished.
Rebound Effect: The percentage of energy savings from efficiency improvements that is lost due to increased energy use.
Economic Growth: An increase in the production of goods and services in an economy over time.