Table 4.1. RFF Model Assumptions about Population, Labor Force, Productivity, and GNP, 1975-2025 But future energy demand and prices depend not only on GNP but also on other parameters of the economy. The key unknowns are as follows: • The inherent energy intensiveness of the economy, or (equivalently) the price elasticity of demand; • The degree of effective constraint on production of coal and nuclear energy that will be imposed for health, safety, and environmental reasons; • The cost of synthetic fuels from coal and energy from other medium- or long-term technological alternatives, including wind, biomass, passive solar collectors, terrestrial photovoltaic cells, SPS, and fusion. For simplicity we have considered three alternative price elasticities of aggregate demand for energy, namely: H: High energy intensiveness, corresponding to low elasticity (-0.25). I: Intermediate energy intensiveness, corresponding to intermediate elasticity (-0.4 for residential and housing demand, -0.7 for industry, 0 for feedstocks). L: Low energy intensiveness, corresponding to high elasticity (-0.75).
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