ABSTRACT
The energy policies that were in place pre 1973 were heavily tilted in favour of the private sector, with the government aiming for a minimalist approach to the energy sector. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, nuclear power was widely perceived as a major source of energy in Western countries. The American Congress formed the Atomic Energy Commission. Energy conservation measures were generally used from the 1960s to the 1980s as a key plank of energy policy so as to improve overall energy security both for individual countries as well as collectively. In terms of methodology, many energy policy choices have been based on using ‘elastic analysis methods’. These include: the Morishima Elasticity of Substitution, Allen-Uzawa Partial Elasticity of Substitution, and the Cross Price Elasticity Theory of Neo-Classicism. Comprehensive research of renewable sources of energy commenced only after the energy crisis of the 1970s and became increasingly popular subsequently when Renewable Energy: The Power to Choose was published in the mid-1980s.
