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This paper explores how long-term energy forecasts are created and why they are useful. It focuses on forecasts of energy use in the United States for the year 2000 but considers only long-term predictions, i.e., those covering two or more decades. The motivation is current interest in global warming forecasts, some of which run beyond a century. The basic observation is that forecasters in the 1950–1980 period underestimated the importance of unmodeled surprises | Annu. Rev. Energy Environ. 2002. 27 83-118 doi 10.1146 annurev.energy.27.122001.083425 What Can History Teach Us a Retrospective Examination of Long-Term Energy Forecasts for the United States Paul P. Craig 1 Ashok Gadgil 2 and Jonathan G. Koomey3 1Sierra Club Global Warming and Energy Program 623 Lafayette Street Martinez California 94553 e-mail ppcraig@ucdavis.edu 2Indoor Environment Department Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 1 Cyclotron Road MS 90-3058 Berkeley California 94720 e-mail ajgadgil@lbl.gov 3End Use Forecasting Group Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 1 Cyclotron Road MS 90-4000 Berkeley California 94720 e-mail JGKoomey@lbl.gov Key Words global warming climate change prediction planning forecasting Abstract This paper explores how long-term energy forecasts are created and why they are useful. It focuses on forecasts of energy use in the United States for the year 2000 but considers only long-term predictions i.e. those covering two or more decades. The motivation is current interest in global warming forecasts some of which run beyond a century. The basic observation is that forecasters in the 1950-1980 period underestimated the importance of unmodeled surprises. A key example is the failure to foresee the ability of the United States economy to respond to the oil embargos of the 1970s by increasing efficiency. Not only were most forecasts of that period systematically high but forecasters systematically underestimated uncertainties. Long-term energy forecasts must make assumptions about both technologies and social systems. At their most successful they influence how people act by showing the consequences of not acting. They are useful when they provide insights to energy planners influence the perceptions of the public and the energy policy community capture current understanding of underlying physical and economic principles or highlight key emerging social or economic trends. It is true that at best we see dimly into the future but those
