California's Electricity Demand and Supply Characteristics

A Statement before the Assembly Subcommittee on State Electrical Energy Policy, February 15, 1973

W. E. Mooz, Richard G. Salter

Expert InsightsPublished 1973

Why is electricity consumption increasing and where is it going? This paper considers California's electricity demand characteristics in terms of patterns of use in three major sectors — residential, industrial, commercial. Present methods of projecting demand in the state are compared with RAND's methods, which use projections of population, economy, types and sizes of industry, appliance ownership, energy prices, and other factors to address the question of future demand under various conditions that might exist. California's electricity supply characteristics are discussed in terms of the rate of growth experienced and the anticipated increase. Although the question of the precise state role in electricity supply R&D is far from obvious, it is clear that the state should encourage, and possibly sponsor, R&D in problem areas of special interest to California: seismic ground motion; underground electric generating and transmission facilities; offshore siting; power plant cooling systems; and geothermal energy resources.

Document Details

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Mooz, W. E. and Richard G. Salter, California's Electricity Demand and Supply Characteristics: A Statement before the Assembly Subcommittee on State Electrical Energy Policy, February 15, 1973. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1973. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P4981.html.
BibTeX RIS

This publication is part of the RAND paper series. The paper series was a product of RAND from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.