Those wild-haired nutjobs at the Financial Times explain. Using statistics and studies to delve below the obvious (prices go up, people become conscious of their energy useage — and waste). It’s textbook economics:
In the long run, simple energy saving should trim energy demand by 3 to
5 per cent for each 10 per cent rise in the price of energy. That is a
worst-case scenario, ignoring the possibility of technological
improvements and switching to low- or no-carbon fuels.
So a twenty percent rise in the price of energy could reduce consumption (and emissions) by about ten percent. Be interesting to chart California’s electric consumption versus past price increases, see how that rule of thumb stacks up vs. recent history.
Kit Stolz 