La edad y el consumo de energía

Otra investigación curiosa, también de Boston.com (un sitio interesante éste...): la gente mayor usa menos energía, y como la tendencia de la población es a envejecer, cada vez tendremos consumo de energía y menos emisiones de CO2. Habría que tratar de replicar esto, yo no estoy tan seguro...

IN THE DRUMBEAT of bad news about global warming, some economists offer a ray of light: people are getting older, and old people use less energy. The economists calibrated a sophisticated model of the economy and emissions with three divergent population growth scenarios, corresponding to different assumptions about fertility, mortality, and immigration. In every scenario, accounting for aging reduced predicted emissions - by almost 40 percent in one scenario. Models being what they are, other potentially important variables were left out, such as household and neighborhood trends, increasing labor force participation by seniors, and globalization, all of which could diminish the effect of aging on emissions. However, to the extent that aging is a global trend, the authors believe that global emissions projections may be too high.

Dalton, M. et al., "Population aging and future carbon emissions in the United States," Energy Economics (March 2008).