A review of the Energy Productivity Center's Least-Cost Energy Strategy study

The Mellon Institute's Energy Productivity Center (EPC) has recently completed a study asking the question, "How would the nation have provided energy services in 1978 if its capital stock had een reconfigured to be optimal for actual 1978 energy prices?" Interest in this question is motivated by the unanticipated increases in oil prices since 1973. If policy makers are to learn from history it is important to know what would have happened if the increases in energy prices had been foreseen and if the nation had taken full advantage of that knowledge to minimize costs.