Abstract
In the past decade it has become alarmingly apparent that the world’s oil and natural gas resources are not only finite but also diminishing at a significant pace. Although there is no wide consensus on the exact reserves of these nonrenewable resources (Odell & Rosing, 1980), there is little disagreement over the fact that the rate of depletion will profoundly affect the lifestyle of future generations (National Academy of Sciences, 1979, 1980; Stern & Gardner, 1980; Stobaugh & Yergin, 1979).
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Notes
Coal reserves are estimated to be about 600 billion tons of coal equivalent (tce) and coal resources at some 10,000 billion tce (See Nbrld Energy Conference, 1978).
This public inquiry, which started in September 1981, had two phases. In phase I an independent steering committee appointed by the government made an inventory of present points of view and beliefs about nuclear energy. After verifying those views and beliefs by defining their plausibility and reliability, the committee summarized its findings in an interim report. One of the functions of this report is to inform the general public in an accessible way and on a large scale about all relevant aspects of nuclear energy.
In phase II the steering committee activated a public discussion on nuclear energy through hearings and special meetings. After this phase, the committee presented the outcomes in a final report to the Dutch parliament and government who then are supposed to define a more definite policy with regards to the question whether or not to increase the number of nuclear power plants in the Netherlands (see Opzet Nota, 1979).
See also Cunningham and Joseph (1978), and Hanna (1978).
Recently Potina (1979) developed a low energy scenario for the Netherlands which strongy emphasizes conservation. He estimates the positive employment effects of this scenario at 193,000 personyears by the year 2000.
Both the study of Nbtaki and the research reported by Sonderegger are part of the Twin Rivers project (New Jersey) of a multidisciplinary research group from Princeton University. See Energy and Buildings, 1978, 1 for an overview of results.
In a recent study in Zoetermeer (the Netherlands) among 138 residents of identical houses a research team from Delft University found that 35% of the variance in gas consumption was explained by differences in residents’ energy-related behaviors (Backer, Bruchem, Hamer, Mellink, Meijer, Moezel, Plagge & Nkstra, 1980). This outcome may serve as another illustration of the importance of consumer behavior in understanding consumer energy consumption.
See also van Raaij (1981)
According to Catton, Jr. and Dunlap (1980) the ecological question calls for a fundamental shift in existing sociological paradigms. “The changes ecological conditions confronting human societies seriously challenge sociology, for the discipline developed in an era when humans seemed exempt from ecological constraints. Disciplinary traditions and assumptions that evolved during the age of exuberant growth imbued sociology with a world view or paradigm which impedes recognition of the societal significance of current ecological realities. Thus, sociology stands in need of a fundamental alteration in its disciplinary paradigm” (Catton, Jr. & Dunlap, 1980, p. 15 ).
Stokols (1978) considers human-environment transaction processes to be the central object of environmental psychology. In his view these processes can be characterized in terms of two basic dimensions: cognitive vs behavioral forms of transaction, and active vs reactive phases of transaction.
In turn, these two dimensions yield four modes of human-environment transactions.
For an interesting application of this “logic of sequence” in social policy research see Fairweather and Tornatzky (1977).
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© 1985 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Ester, P. (1985). The Need for Energy Conservation: Introduction to Theme and Background of This Study. In: Consumer Behavior and Energy Conservation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7710-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7710-6_1
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