Much has been written about the benefits of energy conservation programs lately, particularlyin large existing buildings. The claims range from the highly laudable goal of conservingenergy resources to reports of meaningful improvement at the "bottom line". It is oftendifficult to guestimate probable impacts since a lot depends upon the scenario data base.Also, grouping U. S. energy consumption on the basis of historical growth rates can bemisleading. (1)

For example, during the first three months of 1975, U. S. energy consumption should havebeen 11.4% lower than expected or slightly less than 1% above the same period of 1974. If wecompare economic activity for both periods on the basis of gross national product, we can finda level only 5% below expectations. If we examine the hypothesis that the reduction inconsumption is due to increased energy costs, we find some confirming statistics. For example,the price of electricity increased approximately 38% between 1973 and 1974 in the middleAtlantic states, while electricity usage decreased approximately 2.5%. In the Mountain statesregion the cost of electricity rose only one-third as rapidly or approximately 11% andelectrical consumption increased nearly 5%.