最近有很多关于节能项目好处的文章，尤其是在现有的大型建筑中。从节约能源资源这一备受赞誉的目标，到“底线”有意义的改善报告，这些主张可谓五花八门。通常很难估计可能的影响，因为很大程度上取决于情景数据库。此外，根据历史增长率对美国能源消费进行分组可能会产生误导。（1） 例如，在1975年的前三个月，美国的能源消耗应该比预期低11.4%，或者比1974年同期略低1%。如果我们在国民生产总值的基础上比较这两个时期的经济活动，我们可以发现这一水平只比预期低5%。如果我们检验减少消耗是由于能源成本增加的假设，我们会发现一些确凿的统计数据。例如，1973年至1974年间，大西洋中部各州的电价上涨了约38%，而用电量下降了约2%。 5%. 在山区，电力成本仅增长了三分之一，涨幅约为11%，而电力消耗增长了近5%。引文:研讨会，ASHRAE交易，第83卷，第一部分，伊利诺伊州芝加哥

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%.