Reply to post: Re: Jevons paradox

Research casts doubt on energy efficiency of 5G

Cuddles

Re: Jevons paradox

The thing about Jevon's paradox is that it applies when the increased efficiency leads directly to an increase in use. But data use is going to increase regardless of any efficiency gains. In the timeframes considered in the article most people still won't even have access to 5G, and in any case by far the biggest contributor to data use in recent years has been the ubituity of wifi, not improved mobile connections. Meanwhile speculation that more efficient infrastructure will lead to mobile providers offering better deals to their customers seem hilariously naive.

So I'm not entirely convinced that there's anything especially bad happening here. It's not that improved efficiency will lead to an increase in use that will more than cancel out any benefit. But rather that improved efficiency will be beneficial given the huge increase in data use that's going to happen anyway.

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