Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Am I dreaming or am I awake?

This morning I woke up to the sound of George W. Bush on the radio urging his fellow countrymen and women to.....yes......save energy!

Then, I went to the door and picked up my copy of the Financial Times (subscription only) and what do I read? Sadad Al-Husseini, former head of exploration at Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil producer, saying that "the best alternative energy is energy efficiency".

And he goes even further:"There is too much wastage with energy. There are too many cars that are far bigger than what they need to be. In the home, there are often heating and air conditioners on unnecessarily"

And what's more, he added that predictions of oil demand reaching 120 million barrels a day in 20 years, 40% up from now, are "nonsense" - as there simply isn't enough oil.

"We don't have to invest in new technologies or look for new ways to save energy, they are already in existence - they just need to be promoted more".

Then apparently the Group of 8 asked the International Energy Agency to do further research on energy efficiency and climate change and report back ahead of a meeting next month.

The problem, as the FT points out, is that yes, right, Bush may be now panicking and telling people perhaps those environmentalists were right in going on and on about energy efficiency. But then, his administration has just passed new fuel efficiency standards for cars for 2008-2011 that are simply not good enough for getting better cars on the market - or at least as good as those sold elsewhere in the world.

What am I going to write in my blog now? I've been outstaged!



Sunday, September 18, 2005

reason for silence...

To those who are reading my blog - I apologise for being quiet for so long. The problem is that I am currently organising an international relocation - we are leaving the US to return to Europe. I will probably continue to maintain the blog, but with a once or twice a month frequency, as I expect to be working full time again (in the US I was not working, so I had lots of time for blogging, which I may not have in the future!). I may also decide to change the focus slightly, but I am still trying to decide what to do....
Thanks for your patience, and if anybody has views on how to make this blog more interesting, please email me!!