ABSTRACT
Energy consumption, in particular energy intensity per unit of real gross domestic product (GDP), is affected by demographic change, technological progress in the economy as a whole, real economic growth, relative energy prices and previous habits and levels of consumption to which consumers are partly locked in. The overall expectation is of increased energy saving per unit of GDP due both to generally higher real energy prices and to the energy saving investment stimulated by economic recovery. Energy 2000 emphasizes that real advances in energy saving need to be embodied in new capital equipment to have any effect so that a rising level of capital investment in the Community is seen as an essential part of the process by which the technology of energy saving is disseminated. This requires that the economy of the European Economic Community emerges from recession, and that there is real economic growth and rising capital investment.
