Energy Prices Not Spurring Conservation (Worldwide Oil Demand Grew 3%)

[Khephra]

While soaring oil prices in the 1970s prompted major advances in the nation's energy efficiency, this year's surge in fuel costs has so far not sparked a new wave of conservation.

Economists, energy analysts and efficiency gurus say they expected petroleum demand growth to slow in 2004, given that total spending will rise by about $295 billion, or 27 percent. Instead, worldwide oil demand grew more than 3 percent, according to government data, or about twice as fast as the market had originally anticipated.

Some now say that conservation is unlikely to play a bigger role in the United States, which accounts for about a quarter of the world's oil consumption, unless predictions that the era of cheap oil is over come true.

Art Smith, chief executive of the energy research and consulting firm John S. Herold, said that while it it is unrealistic to expect fossil fuel consumption to plummet overnight after a price spike, "the remarkable thing has been the virtual lack of any demand response."

http://www.newsday.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ye-energy,0,2899064.story?coll=sns-ap-business-headlines