Clean Cheap Heat

The Development of Residential Markets for Natural Gas in the United States

John H. Herbert

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 1992
• Print ISBN:
  9780275942045
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313066696
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Energy

This work traces the development of residential natural gas markets in the United States from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. It examines how social, economic, and technological factors interrelated to bring a relatively new energy source from obscurity to general acceptance by the population. The author credits the appearance of particular appliances which helped spawn natural gas use, notes legislative developments such as the Natural Gas Act of 1938 and the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978, and shows the various effects of regulation and price changes on the market. The author also demonstrates the use of a general method for performing a regression analysis when the historical data are poorly measured.

This study will be of interest to energy economists, econometricians, and industry specialists, as well as economic and social historians.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Tables and Figures
• Preface
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Market near the Turn of the Century
• 3. Changes in the Market during the 1920’s
• 4. The 1930’s and the Great Depression
• 5. The Second World War and Its Aftermath
• 6. Growth in the Market between 1950 and 1973
• 7. Lack of Growth in Residential Markets after 1973
• 8. Quantitative Analysis for the Period after 1960
• 9. Summary and Conclusion
• Appendix I. Additional Estimations
• Appendix II. Estimated Elasticities from Various Studies
• Appendix III. A New Economic Model Based On Balestra’s Model
• Appendix IV. Data Used to Estimate Equations in Chapters 2 and 3
• Bibliographic Essay
• Index