Skip to main content
Climate
Search

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
    • For Educators
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search
MIT

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
    • For Educators
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search
PostOctober 16, 2017

Sometimes sharing isn't caring

In the mid-19th century, the English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that as the extraction of coal became cheaper and more efficient, coal production increased instead of decreasing. Why so? Because the market for coal expanded into areas that were previously not using this new energy source. This was back when England was a major producer of coal (hence the phrase "carrying coals to Newcastle"). That observation is now called Jevon's paradox. 

One of the sustainability arguments made for ridesharing services such as Lyft and Uber is that they will make automobile use more efficient and therefore, fewer cars will be able to transport more people from A to B. However, is Jevon's paradox at play in ridesharing as well? What if the ease of availability makes it more likely that I will hail a ride rather than walking or taking the bus? 

A recent study from UC Davis suggests that reducing friction in ridesharing is doing exactly that - making people walk less and reducing the use of public transport.

Let's play this scenario out a little more - imagine a world dominated by self-driving cars. Will it: 

  1. Reduce our collective carbon footprint because these cars will be driven more efficiently by robots?
  2. Increase our collective carbon footprint because all of us will have a car at our beck and call at all times?

What do you think?  

 

by Rajesh Kasturirangan
Topics
Fossil Fuels
Transportation
Cars

Related Posts

PodcastJune 12, 2025

E7: Cleaner air

TILclimate Podcast
TILclimate logo
PostJune 11, 2025

Decarbonizing steel is as tough as steel

MIT News
Advanced steelmaking technologies could enable significant decarbonization of the iron and steel sector and improve the world’s chances of achieving long-term climate goals.
PostJune 11, 2025

A vision for transportation resilience in the energy transition

MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy
Rethinking resilience of low-carbon transportation
PostJune 3, 2025

Study shows making hydrogen with soda cans and seawater is scalable and sus...

MIT News
MIT engineers have developed a new aluminum-based process to produce hydrogen gas, that they are testing on a variety of applications, including an aluminum-powered electric vehicle, pictured here.

MIT Climate News in Your Inbox

 
 

MIT Groups Log In

Log In

Footer

  • About
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Contact
MIT Climate Project
MIT
Communicator Award Winner
Communicator Award Winner