Energy in America's future☆

Abstract Energy in America's Future, the book reported on in this article, assembled facts and performed analyses required for making informed energy choices. It reached broad conclusions on supply and demand prospects and on the environmental and other social aspects of policy choices. Although near-term constraints are severely binding, the nation's natural resource position is favorable for long-run supply expansion. Future technologies are also promising in cost terms. Although costs are bound to rise, a ceiling on long-run supply costs looks to be possible at real levels surprisingly close to current prices. Energy consumption in relationship to overall national output (GNP) will be growing at a slower rate than in recent decades. Consumers will use relatively less energy as a result of higher energy prices, conservation incentives, and new energy-using technology. Even so, overall energy use will grow. Major energy demand policy issues concern not just the likely rate of growth of consumption, but also the possible problems connected with optimizing energy efficiency at the expense of economic efficiency (i.e., output in relation to all inputs, particularly those of labor and capital). Environmental impacts and concerns about questions of human health and safety will continue to affect public acceptance of particular energy technologies. The public will need to be adequately informed on the comparative risks of energy supply technologies, and the technical and institutional means available for reducing these risks. The price system must be permitted to function to the maximum feasible extent. In addition, the task for political leadership is to forge a public consensus in support of achievable energy goals. This has been difficult because of conflicting public perceptions of the facts and clashes in social values among different groups. The future prospects for achieving a national energy consensus should be enhanced by the outlook for slower energy demand growth and favorable supply prospects along with potential improvements in the environmental side effects associated with new and improved supply technologies. As knowledge of these changing circumstances becomes more broadly disseminated, the ability to achieve broad public support of energy goals should grow stronger.