ABSTRACT
The energy problem is traditionally considered to be how to expand readily available (e.g. domestic) energy supplies to meet extrapolated homogeneous demands. A tacit identification of the rate of growth of primary energy use with the level of well-being leads to subsidization of energy supply, lest price elasticity of demand stall supposedly essential energy growth. The rising economic, environmental and political costs, hence the dwindling practicality, of this ‘hard’ energy path are increasingly troublesome even to those who accept its premises. Though the hard and soft energy paths typically contrast high and rising energy use with low and falling energy use, respectively, neither the rate of energy conversion nor its time derivative is a defining feature.
