CANADIAN ENERGY FUTURES: POLICY SCENARIOS AND PUBLIC PREFERENCES

Alternative Canadian energy futures as articulated by forecasting agencies and as perceived by a sample of the Albertan public are examined. The use of environmental world views as a conceptual framework facilitates the analyses of both the energy scenarios and public perspectives in an analogous manner in order to establish areas of congruence and disagreement.
The results indicate that energy projections were consistent with the forecasting methodology selected, as well as the attitudes, values, and assumptions incorporated into the forecasting models. A relationship between environmental attitudes, energy preferences, and reasons expressed for those preferences was also found amongst the public sample.