The Transition from Exhaustible to Renewable or Inexhaustible Resources

Allow me to begin with some simple and rather obvious remarks on the nature of the transition problem from exhaustible to renewable or inexhaustible resource use. First, a shift in resource use means also a shift in technology, because in this age resources go together with technologies that process them and put them to use. Secondly, while I have used the word ‘exhaustible’, the term ‘depletion’ is a more suitable word, in that it suggests a more gradual process. The later stages of depletion will then whenever possible call forth a substitute resource that allows society to meet the same or a similar need to that met by the resource being depleted. Finally, I will follow the model of price as a regulator that will touch off the substitution, smoothly if the degree and rate of depletion are foreseen sufficiently in advance.