Durable Goods Drive Two-Thirds of Global Households’ Final Energy Footprints

Abstract

Sustainability endorses high quality, long-lasting goods. Durable goods, however, often require substantial amounts of energy during their production and use-phase and indirectly through complementary products and services. We quantify the global household's final energy footprints (EFs) of durable goods and the complementary goods needed to operate, service and maintain durables. We calculate the EFs of 200 goods across 44 individual countries and 5 world regions for the period of 1995−2011. In 2011, we find 68% of the total global household's EF (218 EJ) is durablerelated broken down as follows: 10% is due to the production of durables per se, 7% is embodied in goods complementary to durables (consumables and services) and 51% is operational energy. At the product level, the highest durable-related EFs are: transport goods (148−648 MJ/cap), housing goods (40−811 MJ/cap), electric appliances (34−181 MJ/cap), and "gas stoves and furnaces" (40−100 MJ/cap). Between 1995 and 2011, the global household EF increased by 28% (48 EJ), of which 72% was added by durable-related energy. Globally, a 10% income growth corresponded to an increase in EF by 9% in durables, 11% in complementary consumables and 13% in complementary serviceswith even higher elasticities in the emerging economies. The average EF of the emerging economies (35 GJ/cap) is 2.5 times lower than in advanced economies (86 GJ/cap). Efficiency gains were detected in 47 out of 49 regions, but only 16 achieved net energy reductions. The large share of durable-related EF across regions (40−88%) confirms the dominance of durables in driving EFs, but the diversity of patterns suggests that policy and social factors influence durable-dependency. Demand-side solutions targeting ownership and interlinkages between durables and complements are key to reduce global energy demand.

Energy Intensity of Final Consumption: the Richer, the Poorer the Efficiency

“…Ref. 21 built a capital transaction matrix 𝐾 with the same dimensions as Z, from the vector f of year 2015. Once added to Z, this matrix allows to consider CFC not as a sub-share of Y (Fig.…”

“…This approach makes it necessary to study sector-level energy intensities as a function of affluence, to better pinpoint how different consumption patterns lead to unequal energy use 17,18,19 . So far, only three studies 20,21,22 have carried out multi-sectoral and multi-regional comparisons of footprint energy intensities of goods and services. Oswald and colleagues 19 have calculated sectoral final energy intensities and concluded that higher-income individuals tend to buy goods that are more energy intensive.…”

“…25 Furthermore, as factories producing goods bought abroad are not accounted for, the footprints of regions that have delocalized their production are underestimated. Another limit to these studies is that they rely on country-level purchasing power parity (PPP) 21,22 to eliminate national price level differences but not on sector-level PPP, hindering precise comparisons between product categories as different sectors in a given country have different PPPs. 26 For example, the PPP of the clothing sector in China is 77% above that of the Chinese average PPP, which in turn is 80% above that of the health sector.…”

“…So far, only three studies − have carried out multisectoral and multiregional comparisons of footprint energy intensities of goods and services. Oswald and colleagues have calculated sectoral final energy intensities and concluded that higher-income individuals tend to buy goods that are more energy intensive.…”

Sustainable Consumption in the Baltic States: The Carbon Footprint in the Household Sector

“…The second most important consumption category is Media and Communication accounting for 18-37% of the carbon footprint of manufacturing products. Some of the best strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of the manufactured products are a circular economy aimed at reduction of the ownership, an extension of the replacement cycle (more durable goods and better repair possibilities), and policies targeting inter-linkages between durables and complements [114,115]. The environmental certification also could help people to choose more environmentally friendly products seeking to reduce the environmental impact caused by consumption.…”