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China Hikes Fuel Prices Amid Shortages
Joe McDonald, Associated Press
China raised gasoline and diesel prices Thursday by about 10 percent to curb demand amid shortages that have caused long lines at filling staions and disrupted trucking in key export areas.
Oil companies have blamed the shortages, which began last week, on a lack of refining capacity. Government controls have forced refiners to pay the difference between soaring market prices for crude and lower retail prices at the pump. Some refiners responded by cutting output.
(1 November 2007)
Chinese reactions to oil price hikes
Ashley, Chinese Car News
China Car Times has taken these comments from various Chinese language articles about the oil increase for your pleasure:
- From today, Im going to drive an electric car!
- I ride a motorbike, and it hurts my pocket!
- China is caving in
- Is this the legendary ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics?’
- Socialism is great – prices rise, but our wages don’t!
- I hope it goes up to 10rmb a liter, this way we’ll all ride our bikes again and loose weight.
- Prices rises are good, this means less cars on the road and we won’t always have traffic jams!
- I’m off to open a bike factory!
- The Chinese car industry only just got off the starting blocks, and it receives a punch in the gut.
- Let’s go to the Middle East and steal their oil!
Although these are only ten comments out of the thousands we’ve seen today, you can understand the general feel in China about the price rise, its going to hit the people hard in their pockets, especially those in inland cities where 100rmb a month difference in bills is actually quite a bit of money!
(1 November 2007)
UK energy savings ‘miscalculated’: the Jevons Paradox in action
BBC
Energy savings in UK households could be up to 30% lower than previously thought, jeopardising efforts to cut the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions.
The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) blamed the miscalculation on “rebound effects” from energy-saving measures.
As people cut their bills by using more efficient devices, they tend to spend the extra money buying additional goods that cancel out some of the savings.
…The report’s author, Steve Sorrell, said that there were two main forms of rebound effects – direct and indirect.
He used the example of someone buying a fuel-efficient car as an example of a direct rebound effect.
“It should mean that I use less petrol, that’s the assumption,” he said. “But because I am using less petrol, my running costs are less. As a result, I may choose more often, I may choose to drive to the shops rather than take the bus. In the end, I may drive further because driving is cheaper and that will offset some of the energy savings. The energy consumption per mile may be less, but I am driving more miles.”
To illustrate an indirect effect, Mr Sorrell said that if he did not drive more miles then he would save money, which he could spend on other goods and services.
…Mr Sorrell admitted that the concept [the Jevons Paradox] had always been controversial, ever since it was first used back in 1865, when it was applied to the efficiency of steam engines.
“Experts have continually failed to come to any agreement on how important these effects are and how much is actually saved through energy efficiency,” he said.
The UKERC’s report assessed the existing research and case studies on the impact of rebound effects on energy savings to see if there was evidence of an economy-wide effect that could jeopardise the UK’s climate policies.
Mr Sorrell said measuring rebound effects was “notoriously complex” and the report found that there were wide discrepancies in previous studies.
But he added that it would be a mistake for government ministers and officials to ignore them.
(1 November 2007)
Efficiency replaces conservation as the goal of energy saving policies
Michael J. Strauss, International Herald Tribune
…Governments around the world that used to promote energy conservation are shifting their focus toward energy efficiency as a way to curb global warming without constraining economic growth, according to energy and environmental officials.
The change is occurring in parts of the industrial world where energy use has been greatest, notably the United States and the European Union. It coincides with the increasing availability of fuel and power from renewable sources and the spread of technology that allows traditional fuels like coal to be burned more cleanly.
“Conservation got a bad name under Ronald Reagan when he said that conservation means being cold in the winter and warm in the summer,” said Joel Gordes, an energy consultant in Connecticut who is also the technical coordinator for the state’s Energy Conservation Management Board.
The connotation of deprivation made it easier for the public to embrace energy efficiency instead, he said.
“Energy efficiency is one of the very best ways you can mitigate climate change,” he added. “With efficiency you are getting exactly the same amount of air conditioning or lighting, but you’re doing it with new technology” and using less energy.
The EU has also shed the concept of conservation in favor of efficiency. Conservation is “not really a term we use,” said an official who deals with energy issues at the European Commission and who asked not to be identified by name because she was not authorized to state policy. “Our real aim is to use energy more efficiently, and to use renewables more.”
(30 October 2007)
