The Rebound Effect of Information and Communication Technologies Development in the European Union

Abstract

Information Society technologies are aimed at raising productivity while reducing time and costs of materials and energy for the economy. Specialists have also observed that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which have become significantly cheaper, are in huge demand for individual (household) use. Individual applications of ICT in the European Union (EU) economy are leading to a growth in different human activities. Their impacts on the economies of EU countries are analogous to the well-known take-back (rebound) effect, which increases the efficiency of resource use. The aim of study is to reveal factors and spatial patterns of dissemination of ICT technology in the EU households and comparison of their electrical energy consumption. The study is based on the comparison of partial indices of the information society, an explanation of the energy rebound effect (take-back effect) and statistical analysis of spatial data using shift and share analysis, leading to a redefinition of the explanatory compound components (factor analysis), which in turn are visualized using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools.