How can we explain the paradoxical outcomes of resource efficiency? As a key pillar of worldwide sustainable development policies, the concept of resource efficiency has become increasingly important to scrutinize. The overreliance on efficiency coupled with the intention of conserving scarce resources can sometimes backfire. Understanding the intermediate process that leads to the negative, paradoxical outcome is imperative for a sustainable future, especially for societies that risks resource degradation. This study takes the explanatory route and aims to problematize the usage of efficient technology in a resource scarce developing country, namely, Morocco. It is argued that the causal mechanism which links the independent variable (drip irrigation technology) to the observed outcome (total increased resource consumption) has to do with production and consumption processes, which is theorized to be spurred by efficiency. These mechanisms have been derived from the theory of Jevons Paradox and juxtaposed with empirical findings from the Guerdane irrigation scheme, a scheme which sought to increase productivity and simultaneously reduce water scarcity. The study makes use of the case-study approach and the process-tracing method. The chosen method provides a means for establishing a timeline of events, alternative explanations, as well as providing grounds for a primary explanation for the observed outcome. The findings point to reduced labour costs and initial water savings as the empirically derived causal mechanisms. These mechanisms, spurred by the implementation of drip irrigation technology, consequently gave rise to the expansion of irrigated land which in turn increased water withdrawals and eventually resulted in a paradoxical, negative outcome where the total consumption of water resources increased. Taken together, these results deepen our understanding of the problematic usage of efficient technology when different types of social processes are not accounted for.

Today, a lot of resources are put into researching technological solutions concerning “carbon neutral” displacement materials and products, with the common goal of mitigating the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The aim of this study was to find out whether a displacement of concrete to glulam beams, in the construction industry, could create substitution effects that reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. To go about this, interviews were conducted with one producer of glulam beams, four construction companies and a non-profit foundation that funds research in fire prevention. Furthermore, sustainability declarations of glulam beams from three glulam beam producers, were analyzed. To compare carbon dioxide emissions in different scenarios, the interview results, as well as the sustainability declarations of the glulam beam producers, were compared and examined. Calculations of carbon dioxide sequestered in glulam beams and emitted from the concrete industry in Sweden were also regarded. The results showed that the possible substitution effects derived from a displacement of concrete to glulam beams, would have a small mitigating impact on the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. However, recent findings point out that the pay back period for harvested trees, is longer than assumed. Moreover, the concrete production is not decreasing, but increasing. In respect of Jevons’ paradox (which concludes that higher efficiency in production leads to more consumption, not less), the conclusion of this study, was that no substitution will mitigate enough CO2 in the atmosphere. Our approach to consumption is what must change.

As the consequences of climate change is increasing the need of replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy globally is becoming more urgent. A central question that has been questioned in the literature is that if the world is on track on a transition away from fossil fuels or if we are only adding renewable energy to the energy mix in a world that continues to grow and consume more energy. Because of the above mentioned, this thesis aims to investigate if the increased generation of electricity from renewable sources are displacing the generation of electricity from fossil fuels. This is tested using a time and country fixed effects model including 176 countries with yearly observations from 2000 to 2020. The result from the regression showed that one additional kWh electricity generated from renewable sources has not statistically managed to displace one kWh of electricity generated from fossil fuels, net of controls. Previous studies using a similar methodology but on older time frames has shown result were almost no displacement has occurred when renewable sources have been added. The result from this thesis should not be interpreted as that the transition is not going to happen since it might be that the global initiatives taken around the globe to make the transition happenis not get visible in the numbers used in thesis, but the result does on the other hand indicate that several economic, political, and social factors has made the transition to renewables difficult, and that we should not assume that renewable energy will replace fossil fuels for electricity generation without policy measures that supports the transition.

Environmental strategies implemented today are strongly influenced by the ideologies capitalism, neoliberalism and ecomodernism. As such, they should promote global economic expansion while mitigating environmental impact. This is in line with the prevailing environmental political discourse of sustainable development, in which economic, ecological and social dimensions are considered compatible and dependent on each other. However, this essay challenges the normative assumption regarding the win-win-win narrative by examining the economic, ecological and social consequences of Max Burgers’ environmental strategies through three critical scientific theories. By posing an ideology critique and through the lens of our theoretical framework, we find that Max Burgers mystifies the apparent relation between local economic growth, global ecological impact and divided social progress, thus reinforcing unequal power dynamics and patterns of uneven development.

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The aim of this thesis is to describe the course of consumption of electricity. One of the feasible ways of description is statistical analysis, which enables to calculate statistically significant factors and their combinations that contributed to the course of consumption of electricity. These factors may be used for modulation of future electricity consumption, and therefore also for long-time prediction. The second chapter discusses the expansion of electricity usage in the Czech Republic from the turn of the 19th century until nowadays. The chapter describes the development of transmission system, development of electricity consumption in the sectors of the national economy, possibilities of using electric energy, and overall balance of electricity and sources of energy. The third chapter presents an overview of usage and consumption of electrical energy in the neighboring European countries as well as in the most interesting countries of the World. The fourth chapter contains statistical analysis. The first part of the chapter details a list of the analyzed quantities of individual consumptions, of the investigated factors, and the analyzed countries. Further, the chapter explains the method of statistical analysis via using simple and multiple regression and its subsequent application and evaluation for the Czech Republic and the others European countries. According to the result, it is GDP that has the main impact on the trends in the course of consumption of electricity. However, it is necessary to consider other factors influencing the consumption of electricity, too, and not rely solely on GDP in terms of long-time prediction of electricity consumption. The fifth chapter discusses the reduction of electricity consumption and savings, which can be both political and macroeconomic result. Quantification of savings is not always unequivocal and any cost-saving actions can lead to an increase in electricity consumption, which can, in effect, be bigger than any possible savings.