Comment by NaNDude

not a response to the question but... actually replacing an usage usually change this usage, but the effect on demand when thoses are primary ressources is'nt linked to this change. coal for exemple is a good source of synthetic fuel (fischer-tropsch process) and 1/6 of actual chinese fuel source or the wood demand exploded with coal usage, for mining it, before surface mining. just to point out that there is mostly no such thing as "energy transitionning" in the humain history, it's a cumulative process.