| 1. |
- Andersson, David, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Greenhouse gas emissions and subjective well-being: An analysis of Swedish households
- 2014
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Ingår i: Ecological Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-8009. ; 102, s. 75-82
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the contemporary discussion on society's transformation towards long-termclimate targets, it is often implicitly assumed that behavioral changes, unlike technological changes, would lead to reductions in human wellbeing.However, this assumption has been questioned by researchers, who instead argue that people may live better lives by consuming less and reduce their environmental impact in the process. In this study we explore the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and subjective well-being, using a sample of 1000 Swedish respondents.Our results show that there is no strong link between an individual's emissions and subjectivewellbeing. We also analyze the relationship between specific emission-intensive activities and subjective well-being and find thatnone of the activities examined correlates with subjective well-being. Finally, we explore a hypothesis put forward in the literature, suggesting that a poor work-life balance, long commuting distances, and materialistic values may decrease individuals' subjective well-being and increase greenhouse gas emissions. Our results indicate that materialistic values do correlate with lower levels of well-being and to some extent also with highergreenhouse gas emissions.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Holmberg, John, 1963, et al.
(författare)
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Low-carbon transitions and the good life
- 2012
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A transition to a low-carbon economy requires farreaching reductions in emissions, which in addition will have to take place at the same time as the global population is growing. A growing population also makes ever greater demands on welfare, while the ecological, social and economic systems that have to sustain this development are already under severe strain. It is commonly argued that emission reductions in a growing world economy can and should be achieved by technical innovations so that the transition to a low-carbon economy does not imply a negative impact on human well-being.This report discusses whether there might perhaps be another way of understanding the situation. Is the presumed linkage between well-being and climate impact always negative? Could a greater focus on human well-being be a driver of, rather than an obstacle to, sustainable development? This report attempts to identify possible strategies to support both [the good life] and decreased emissions. By adopting this research approach, the authors aim to make a contribution to the discussion of low-carbon transitions in society.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Nässén, Jonas, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Concrete vs. wood in buildings - An energy system approach
- 2012
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Ingår i: Building and Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0360-1323. ; 51, s. 361-369
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Substitution between energy and CO2 intensive materials is a potentially important climate mitigation strategy. We compare buildings with concrete frames and wooden frames concerning their life-time carbon dioxide emissions as well as their total material, energy and carbon dioxide costs. By using consistent energy systems scenarios meeting stringent targets for atmospheric CO2 concentrations we investigate the impact of higher energy and carbon dioxide prices as well as of the availability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. We find that wooden frames cause lower carbon dioxide emissions given the prevailing energy system, but concrete frames obtain about the same emissions as the wood frame in a system where CCS is not used for wood incineration in the demolishing phase. The net present costs for the different buildings are also affected by the future energy supply system, even though the impact is small, especially compared to the total construction cost. We conclude that it is unclear whether wood framed buildings will be a cost-effective carbon mitigation option and that further analyses of costs should be performed before prescriptive materials policies are enforced in the buildings sector.
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| 7. |
- Nässén, Jonas, 1975
(författare)
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Determinants of greenhouse gas emissions from household consumption in Sweden: Time-series and cross-sectional analyses
- 2011
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Ingår i: Sustainable Consumption Towards Action and Impact, International scientific conference, Hamburg. ; , s. 39-
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This presentation provides findings from two separate empirical analyses of energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Swedish households. The first analysisuses expenditure data from 2000 households with 100 expenditure categories and coupled energy and emissions intensities. The second analysis follows the development of aggregated consumption patterns and GHG emissions in Sweden over time from 1993 to 2006. Emphasis is put on the total GHG emissions of the households (transport, heating, food, entertainment etc), recognizing that reduced spending in one category may cause rebound effects through increasing spending in other categories (Nässén & Holmberg, 2009). The author belongs to a research group which consists of energy system modellers, economists and sociologist. Structural determinants of consumption are emphasized (e.g. income, urban form) while psychologicaldeterminants are not included. This research primarily builds on an empirical tradition rather than a theoretical, but an overarching aim is to add to the understanding of how society can be transformed towards long-term climate targets, for example if ecoefficiencywill be enough (ecological modernization theory) or if more radical changes will be required (e.g. to the work-life balance; Nässén et al, 2009). The cross-sectionalanalysis confirms results from other countries showing that income (or total expenditures) is the most important determinant of energy use and GHG emissions. A 1% increase in total expenditures corresponds to increases of 0.78% in energy use and 0.83% in GHG emissions. Spatial determinants also proved to be important. For example, given the same household size and income, an average household living in a detached house in a non-urban area caused 28% more GHG emissions than an average household living in an apartment in a large city. Contrary, the level of education did not show any statistical significance. In the time-series analysis, a decomposition method is used to describe the change in GHG emissions as a series of factors (GHG/energy, energy/energy service, energy service/consumption, consumption/cap, cap). Thedevelopment of energy service demand is here calculated as energy use under constant technical energy efficiency. This is done in order to separate the technicalprogress from the structural change of consumption patterns. A 1% increase in consumption corresponds to an increase in energy service demand by 0.80% which isvery close to the result from the cross-sectional analysis. This finding gives some support for the use of results from cross-sectional analyses in scenarios of energy use if these are complemented by scenarios of technological change. The aggregated effect of structural changes of consumption, energy efficiency and fuel substitutions was a decrease in GHG emissions by 5% while consumption increased by 39%. While this can be seen as a substantial decoupling, this rate will not be enough to reach long-term climate targets.
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| 8. |
- Nässén, Jonas, 1975
(författare)
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Determinants of greenhouse gas emissions from Swedish private consumption: Time-series and cross-sectional analyses
- 2014
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Ingår i: Energy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0360-5442. ; 66, s. 98-106
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The relationships between consumption, energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Swedish households are analysed using both cross-sectional multivariate regressions and a decomposition analysis of GHG emissions between 1993 and 2006 into underlying trends. The analyses cover 104 consumption categories and include both direct and indirect energy use. The results from the cross-sectional analysis confirm previous results from other countries showing that total expenditures is by far the most important determinant of households' energy use and GHG emissions with expenditure elasticities of 0.77 and 0.85, respectively. Households living in single-family houses were also found to cause higher total energy demand than households living in apartments. Age also showed a positive relationship with both total energy use and emissions, while the level of education had a low significance. The decomposition analysis showed that improvements in technical energy efficiency over time had twice as large impact on energy use as the change in composition of consumption. When the effect of energy efficiency improvements was deducted from the energy trend, the relationship between total expenditures and energy use was found to be similar to the cross-sectional relationship. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 9. |
- Nässén, Jonas, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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On the potential trade-offs between energy supply and end-use technologies for residential heating
- 2013
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4215. ; 59, s. 470-480
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Sweden, where district heating accounts for a significant share of residential heating, it has been argued that improvements in end-use energy efficiency may be counter-productive since such measures reduce the potential of energy efficient combined heat and power production. In this paper we model how the potential trade-offs between energy supply and end-use technologies depend on climate policy and energy prices. The model optimizes a combination of energy efficiency measures, technologies and fuels for heat supply and district heating extensions over a 50 year period. We ask under what circumstances improved end-use efficiency may be cost-effective in buildings connected to district heating? The answer hinges on the available technologies for electricity production. In a scenario with no alternatives to basic condensing electricity production, high CO2 prices result in very high electricity prices, high profitability of combined heat and power production, and little incentive to reduce heat demand in buildings with district heating. In contrast, in a scenario where electricity production alternatives with low CO2 emissions are available, the electricity price will level out at high CO2 prices. This gives heat prices that increase with the CO2 price and make end-use efficiency cost-effective also in buildings with district heating.
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