Energy Use The Human Dimension (1984) / Chapter Skim
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1: The Human Dimension
1: The Human Dimension
Pages 1-13
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As James Schlesinger has said (quoted in Martin, 1982) , "The energy crisis is over until we have our next energy crisis." Granted that a combination of increased energy production and conservation to meet the nation's needs is still an urgent national priority, why another study?
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It accurately predicts, for example, that when oil prices rise relative to the prices of other fuels, some energy producers will invest in oil exploration, and some energy users will switch to other fuels or purchase more energy-efficient equipment. But such aggregate truths conceal great variation among energy producers and users, and some of that variation can be understood in terms of other concepts and analyses.
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Responses to Oil Shortages In 1979, a minor shortfall in oil supplies led to widespread hoarding of oil products, long lines at gas pumps, the installation of dangerous extra fuel containers in private cars, and even occasional violence in the form of fistfights and shootings. The energy policy community responded with proposals designed to keep gas lines from forming as a way of preventing such unexpected and antisocial behavior in the next period of shortage.
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For a number of years, research in the social and behavioral sciences has been and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted. Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative version for attribution.
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If energy audit programs are to be of any substantial practical value to residential energy users, they must be based on improved understanding of consumers' beliefs and motives relating to home energy conservation. Understanding the communication processes operating in this situation
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But this knowledge has not yet been systematically developed, largely because the social and behavioral sciences that offer insight into the human dimension have not been called upon to address energy policy issues very often or very intensively.4 It is therefore necessary for this book to be more of an exploration than a prescription. By reviewing the human side of a sampling of energy issues that relate primarily to energy use, we hope to add a needed dimension to thinking about energy policy and to offer new ideas for tackling a few difficult energy problems.5 About This Book For our study, we selected for analysis three energy issues we consider to be among the most important facing the society: 1)
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Chapter 3 focuses on the environment of energy consumption; Chapter 4 considers how individual and household energy users behave in this environment; and Chapter 5 examines organizational factors as they affect energy use by organizations and as they influence the actions of energy intermediaries. The implications for policy and programs affecting energy consumption are also discussed.
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Some analysts believe this promise can be realized with appropriate policies. Others believe that the political and other difficulties that have beset national energy policy are equally serious at the local level.
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Organizational, political, and decisional processes affect energy production in other ways as well: examples include political choices to and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted. Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative version for attribution.
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Just as importantly, we explore a different way of looking at energy policy issues. It is our belief that adding the human dimension to the analysis of energy issues will increase understanding of how the energy system functions.
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We believe such a broader debate can help the society organize to diminish the frequency of energy and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted. Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative version for attribution.
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The department's position on social research is itself part of the human dimension of energy in that it follows naturally from the agency's institutional history. The Department of Energy evolved from the Energy Research and Development Administration and, before that, the Atomic Energy Commission, both of which had as their major purpose the development of energy technologies.
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THE HUMAN DIMENSION dresses a range of energy policy issues from a social-behavioral viewpoint and illustrates some ways 13 policy. It may also suggest ways of thinking about other energy issues not addressed directly in this of thinking about energy issues that have not been evident in most prominent analyses of energy
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