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

This work traces the development of residential natural gas markets in the United States from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. It examines how social, economic, and technological factors interrelated to bring a relatively new energy source from obscurity to general acceptance by the population. The author credits the appearance of particular appliances which helped spawn natural gas use, notes legislative developments such as the Natural Gas Act of 1938 and the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978, and shows the various effects of regulation and price changes on the market. The author also demonstrates the use of a general method for performing a regression analysis when the historical data are poorly measured. This study will be of interest to energy economists, econometricians, and industry specialists, as well as economic and social historians.