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by RhodesianHunter 2539 days ago
You're assuming improvements in efficiency will necessarily lead to a decrease in cost.

The Jevons paradox tells us that this increase in efficiency may well lead to more demand instead.

1 comments

I'm not sure that ends up disproving predictions of lower cost. By the Jevons paradox, more efficient steam engines led to steam-based eneegy being cheaper (you need less coal per unit of mechanical power), but people kept paying about the same in total- just using more mechanical energy. So the equivalent would surely be electricity costs dropping, and people using more power (air conditioning, etc.)