A time use perspective on the materials intensity of consumption

The ecological requirements to drastically increase the productivity of materials use call for improvements in the efficiency of consumption. This (eco-)efficiency discussion often takes a functional view on consumption, noting that present consumption is inefficient and that it is not the products that the consumers want, but the services that the products yield. However. contemporary consumption serves many needs that are not functional and universal, but subjective and obscured from the producers. This paper develops a time use approach towards consumption, which makes allowance for the subjectivity of needs. while still enabling the analysts to approach the concept of a sustainable lifestyle. A distinctive premise of the analysis is that it assumes time and money not to be interchangeable and consumption to be limited by available consumption time instead of purchasing power, This approach is demonstrated by linking the direct and the indirect energy use of Finnish two-person households to the data of a national time use survey. The results are used to point out some of the potential time use rebound effects of such new eco-efficient services that transfer activities from private households to the market actors. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.