The Tech power plant burns coal and natural gas to generate steam and electricity for all campus buildings. The annual coal consumption at the plant has increased annually for the past 8 years due to an aggressive campus building program. The following table shows the annual coal consumption and the building space increases on campus for this period.

Year Coal Consumption

(tons)

Space Increases

(1,000 ft2)

1 31,000 37 2 27,000 19 3 33,000 49 4 37,000 60 5 35,000 70 6 41,000 105 7 44,000 150 8 46,000 110

a. Develop a linear trend model to forecast coal consumption for the coming year.

b. Develop a linear regression model to forecast coal consumption at the plant given the annual space increases and forecast coal consumption next year for the planned opening of 94,000 ft2 additional building space. Which forecast model do you think Tech should rely on? LO.1