Clean Cheap Heat: the Development of Residential Markets for Natural Gas in the United States.

• Author: Uei, Noel D.

This short monograph traces the development of residential natural gas markets from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. It endeavors to demonstrate how various social, economic, and technological factors interacted to bring a relatively new energy source from obscurity to widespread use by the residential sector. Among the significant factors leading to the emergence of natural gas as a major energy source according to the author was the development and refinement of specific natural using appliances coupled with the Natural Gas Act of 1938 and the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978. To this should be added the relative price differential between natural gas and its competing energy types (primarily electrical energy, manufactured gas, and distillate fuel oil) for various end uses as well as the expanded availability of natural gas over time in different regions of the country.

The author does a nice job of mixing descriptive facts with sound economic analysis to give a comprehensive picture of how the residential market for natural gas developed regionally in the United States. Moreover, unlike most efforts of this sort that simply recount the institutional development of a specific industry, the author does not dwell on just a single facet of the industry (e.g., the technological enhancements leading to the expansion of the industry). Rather, he truly endeavors to integrate his discussion of the institutional and technological developments of the industry with the economics of the energy markets prevailing at a given point in time. This gives the reader a better sense of the complexities associated with the acceptance of natural gas as a popular energy source for the home. This effort is illustrated well by the discussion of the developments in the natural gas market just after the end of World War II. Provided is a delineation of the improvements in technology by the industry for the storage of natural gas to meet seasonal variations in the demand for natural gas but a failure on it's (industry's) part to pursue the development of gas air conditioners and refrigerators. (The reason for this is examined.) Superimposed on this discussion is a recounting of the social and economic conditions impacting consumer appliance purchase decisions leading to a slow but steady expansion in the natural gas market at the expense of manufactured gas and fuel oil in most regions of the country.

The book is composed of nine chapters and...