The Treadmill of Alternatively Fueled Vehicle Production

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which alternatively fueled vehicles (AFVs) act as a counterforce to traditional fuel consumption in the United States. I estimate a time-series cross-sectional Prais-Winsten regression model with panel-corrected standard errors to explore how increases in the proportion of AFVs influences fuel consumption rates per vehicle. Findings indicate that AFVs are increasing the average fuel consumption rates of vehicles. Using an additional time-series cross-sectional Prais-Winsten regression model with panel-corrected standard errors, I demonstrate that at least part of this correlation is due to AFVs' positive relationship to travel. I explain this phenomenon using the treadmill of production theory (a prominent theory in environmental sociology), and argue that AFVs up until this point have been used to expand development, and in turn environmental impacts. Furthermore, I argue that the inability of AFVs to replace traditional fuel consumption demonstrates a paradox in their application that can be explained through the treadmill of production theory.

Time, Power and Environmental Impact: A Growth Curve Model of the Relationship Between Temporal Change and CO2 Emissions Per Capita

“…This insight, when taken in conjunction with insights of from the "displacement paradox" and the "Jevon's paradox"-which, respectively, note that new technologies are often used in addition to older technologies, and that increases in technological efficiency often lead to the technology being used by consumers at greater rates (York, 2006;York & McGee, 2016)-provides a plausible explanation of these initially surprising findings. Considering these theoretical contributions, we should not necessarily be surprised to see factors such as technological change, policy change, and increasing ecological concern associated with increases in emissions in the core, as it is possible that 1) new technologies, particularly in the energy sector, are being used in order to expand markets in the core, rather than replacing older technologies (York, 2012), and 2) increases in efficiency are leading to increases in consumption, as has recently been found to be the case in the United States with alternative fuel vehicles (McGee, 2018).…”