the Jevons paradox describes a situation where greater efficiency in deploying a resource (such as water, gasoline, or electricity) causes demand for that resource to skyrocket — negating an expected decline in total usage. Electric lights are often cited as an example: people have responded to improved light bulb efficiency by installing so many more of them that there has been no decline in the total energy consumed by lighting. The Jevons paradox has become a bedrock principle of environmental economics, used to explain why efficiency improvements can backfire and cause the opposite outcome from what was intended.