“A Vibrant National Preoccupation”: Embracing an Energy Conservation Ethic in the 1970s

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb Wellum
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Energy Conservation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Energy Crisis ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Energy History ◽  
Current Energy ◽  
Conservation Ethic

Abstract This article examines the popularity of the “energy conservation ethic” in the United States during the 1970s, which environmentalists, politicians, and oil companies endorsed as a solution to the energy crisis. It demonstrates that broad support for an energy conservation ethic contained two competing paradigms: one “ecological” and the other “nationalist.” The former advocated conservation as a means to a sustainable low-carbon future, while the latter viewed the conservation ethic as a tool to eliminate dependence on foreign oil in order to reestablish the economic and geopolitical strength of the United States. Thus, in contrast to a view that traces a relatively linear transition from the utilitarian and nationalist ethos of early twentieth-century conservationism to the more holistic concern with “the environment” of the postwar environmental movement, this article underscores the persistence of utilitarian conservationist conceptions of resource stewardship in the middle of the “environmental decade.” These competing paradigms contributed to the argument for energy price deregulation as the most effective way to discipline US energy consumers. In this way, the energy crisis and the conservation debates that it evoked reflected the rightward turn of the United States in the 1980s. Current energy history tends to focus on the political, environmental, and socioeconomic histories of energy production and consumption rather than efforts to reduce demand but, as this article demonstrates, discourses of conservation can also shape political trajectories in unexpected ways.

Versatile and cheap: a global history of soy in the first half of the twentieth century

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Prodöhl
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Cash Crop ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Transnational Actors ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second World

AbstractThis article traces the complex and shifting organization of soy's production and consumption from Northeast China to Europe and the United States. It focuses on a set of national and transnational actors with differing interests in the global and national spread of soybeans. The combination of these actors in certain spatiotemporal contexts enabled a fundamental change in soy from an Asian to an American cash crop. At the beginning of the twentieth century, soy rapidly became Northeast China's cash crop, owing to steadily increasing Western demand. However, the versatility of soy – and soy oil in particular – offered a highly successful response to the agricultural and industrial challenges that the United States faced during the Great Depression and the Second World War. By the end of the war, American farmers in the Midwest cultivated more soybeans than their Chinese counterparts.

Significant Differences in Proved Reserves Estimates Using SPE/WPC Definitions Compared to United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Definitions

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (06) ◽  
pp. 520-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.R. Harrell ◽  
Thomas L. Gardner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Securities And Exchange Commission ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
Direct Function ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Publicly Owned ◽  
Hydrocarbon Reserves ◽  
The U.S

Summary A casual reading of the SPE/WPC (World Petroleum Congresses) Petroleum Reserves Definitions (1997) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) definitions (1978) would suggest very little, if any, difference in the quantities of proved hydrocarbon reserves estimated under those two classification systems. The differences in many circumstances for both volumetric and performance-based estimates may be small. In 1999, the SEC began to increase its review process, seeking greater understanding and compliance with its oil and gas reserves reporting requirements. The agency's definitions had been promulgated in 1978 in connection with the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 and at a time when most publicly owned oil and gas companies and their reserves were located in the United States. Oil and gas prices were relatively stable, and virtually all natural gas was marketed through long-term contracts at fixed or determinable prices. Development drilling was subject to well-spacing regulations as established through field rules set by state agencies. Reservoir-evaluation technology has advanced far beyond that used in 1978;production-sharing contracts were uncommon then, and probabilistic reserves assessment was not widely recognized or appreciated in the U.S. These changes in industry practice plus many other considerations have created problems in adapting the 1978 vintage definitions to the technical and commercial realities of the 21st century. This paper presents several real-world examples of how the SEC engineering staff has updated its approach to reserves assessment as well as numerous remaining unresolved areas of concern. These remaining issues are important, can lead to significant differences in reported quantities and values, and may result in questions about the "full disclosure" obligations to the SEC. Introduction For virtually all oil and gas producers, their company assets are the hydrocarbon reserves that they own through various forms of mineral interests, licensing agreements, or other contracts and that produce revenues from production and sale. Reserves are almost always reported as static quantities as of a specific date and classified into one or more categories to describe the uncertainty and production status associated with each category. The economic value of these reserves is a direct function of how the quantities are to be produced and sold over the physical or contract lives of the properties. Reserves owned by private and publicly owned companies are always assumed to be those quantities of oil and gas that can be produced and sold at a profit under assumed future prices and costs. Reserves under the control of state-owned or national oil companies may reflect quantities that exceed those deemed profitable under the commercial terms typically imposed on private or publicly owned companies.

Fighting for oil when there is no oil yet

Focaal ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (52) ◽  
pp. 39-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Behrends
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
The United States ◽  
The South ◽  
Southern Sudan ◽  
Future Possibility ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The United Nations

The area around the border of Sudan and Chad, where Darfur lies, has been an unimportant and unknown backwater throughout history. Today, however, Darfur is all over the international press. Everybody knows about the grim war there. There is no oil currently in production in Darfur. However, there is oil in the south of neighboring Chad and in Southern Sudan, and there might be oil in Darfur. This article considers a case of fighting for oil when there is no oil yet. It takes into account the role of local actors doing the fighting, that is, the army, rebels, and militias; national actors such as the Sudanese and Chadian governments; and international actors, such as multinational oil companies, the United States, China, and the United Nations. It explains how oil can have disintegrative consequences even when it is still only a rumor about a future possibility.

Consumers’ Attitudes about Energy Conservation in Sweden, Canada, and the United States, with Implications for Policymakers

1982 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris T. Allen ◽  
Roger J. Calantone ◽  
Charles D. Schewe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Energy Conservation ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Efficient Energy ◽  
Personal Involvement ◽  
Economic Rationale ◽  
Promotion Campaigns ◽  
Efficient Energy Use

Cross-cultural comparisons can prove helpful for pinpointing factors which underlie efficient energy use. This study examines differences in the attitudes of Swedes, Canadians, and Americans about energy conservation, as a vehicle for evaluating the energy policies of these nations. Although they are efficient energy users, the heavily regulated Swedes possess weaker perceptions of personal involvement and effectiveness with regard to their energy problems. Canadians seem to have a more realistic understanding of the energy situation, and are more sensitive to the economic rationale for conservation, possibly as a result of their government's conservation promotion campaigns. Implications of the findings for U.S. energy policy are discussed.

Introduction

2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Loss
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
American University ◽  
Intellectual Discourse ◽  
Fortieth Anniversary ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Rules Of The Game

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the publication of Laurence R. Veysey's The Emergence of the American University. Hailed by Frederick Rudolph at the time of its release as a “major contribution … tough-minded … [and] brilliant.” Veysey's work is still widely read, taught, and cited. Every scholar who wrestles with the historical development of the modern American university must at some point come to terms with the institution as Veysey so brashly conceived of it. All disciplinary subfields have their founding text—a singular work that defines an entire intellectual discourse and lays out the “rules of the game” for all those who follow. For historians interested in tracking the organization, production, and consumption of knowledge in the United States, The Emergence of the American University is and remains that text.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document