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An Empirical Inquiry on the Effect of Cleaner Local Energy Production on Consumer Carbon Footprint

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Design for Innovative Value Towards a Sustainable Society

Abstract

This study analyzes the effect of cleaner local energy production on the consumer carbon footprint. The results in consumption based carbon footprint assessments have traditionally indicated that a significant change in consumption patterns or lifestyles would be needed to achieve the often aspired, ambitious 50- 80% cutoffs in the carbon emissions on a community level. However, it is also known that a majority of the emissions related to all goods and services derives from energy. Thus cleaner local energy would not affect only the emissions from housing in the consumer carbon footprint but also the carbon load from the consumption of goods and services produced with the same energy.

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Heinonen, J., Kyro, R., Junnila, S. (2012). An Empirical Inquiry on the Effect of Cleaner Local Energy Production on Consumer Carbon Footprint. In: Matsumoto, M., Umeda, Y., Masui, K., Fukushige, S. (eds) Design for Innovative Value Towards a Sustainable Society. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3010-6_32

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