END-USE OR EXTRACTION EFFICIENCY IN NATURAL-RESOURCE UTILIZATION - WHICH IS BETTER

The role of technology innovations in making the wealth of non-renewab le resources available to the modern economy is indisputable. Yet, the re have been very few studies that compare the effects of different ty pes of technology improvements on natural resource use. This article u ndertakes the comparison of the relative merits of end-use efficiency and extraction efficiency, The model used includes the dynamics of non -renewable resource use, decreasing ease of access, research and effic iency technologies, The simulation results show that, all else being e qual, investments in end-use efficiency research lead to higher levels of service gained from resource use :han investments in extraction ef ficiency alone. A combination of technologies, skewed towards end-use efficiency is superior to either by itself. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons , Ltd.