“It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuel is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth.”

—  William Stanley Jevons , book The Coal Question

The Coal Question (1865)
Context: It is very commonly urged, that the failing supply of coal will be met by new modes of using it efficiently and economically.... It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuel is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth.

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William Stanley Jevons photo
William Stanley Jevons 69
English economist and logician 1835–1882

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