ABSTRACT
The reconstitution of Danish economic activity from the end of World War II to about 1960, was followed by a period of exceptional growth from 1960 to 1973, with several implications for energy usage. The 1950s had seen a very rapid substitution of coal with oil products (Fig. 11.1), in power plants, in building heating and hot water systems, and in industry. The reason was greater convenience, but also the stable or modestly declining price of oil products (Fig. 11.2). The low energy prices led to energy being used less efficiently. Little attention was paid to the conversion efficiency of appliances or road vehicles. This may be illustrated by the energy intensity, defined as the amount of energy spent in earning one unit of GNP (despite the many omissions of contributions to the GNP mentioned in Chapter 10). Figure 11.3 shows the gross behaviour of the energy intensity over the 20th and most of the 19th century. First, the ratio declines as the new technologies replace, for example, inefficient use of draft animals, then it increases again. The behaviour will be discussed further below.
