HOUSEHOLDERS BURNING ENERGY

Interesting debut on the world stage: Instead of getting embroiled in the nuclear energy feud in Iran, he sort of does "a plague on all your houses" act. Now he can back off and get to know folks, one crisis at a time.

New energy agency chief sees household energy use rising in industrial countries
Judy Dempsey, September 10, 2007 (International Herald Tribune)

WHO
Nobuo Tanaka, Japanese economist/diplomat & first non-European Executive Director, International Energy Agency (IEA);

WHAT
Tanaka criticized the world’s leading industrial countries for failing to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

IEA graph showing rising emissions all over the world, worse in China and developing regions. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- Tanaka became IEA head on September 1.
- New statistics, 1990 to 2004: Household energy consumption up from 23% of total energy consumption to 26% ; Service sector energy consumption up from 13% to 14%; Passenger transport up from 23% to 26%; Freight transport up from 10% to 11%.
Household emissions remained at 23%; Service sector emissions rose from 16% to 17%; Passenger transport emissions rose from 21% to 22%. Industrial sector energy consumption and emissions fell.

WHERE
Tanaka was commenting on new statistics released at a Berlin meeting of 20 nations’ energy and environmental ministers ahead of UN climate change talks upcoming in Bali, Indonesia, in December.

WHY
- Tanaka said Europe, Canada, Australia and the US must act themselves for their calls on action by emerging economies such as China and India to have credibility.
- The IEA advises the big energy consuming nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
- Efficiency gains have been subsumed in consumer preferences for larger consumption such as choices for energy-guzzling vehicles, a problem for which Tanaka advocates a gas tax.
- Tanaka sees competition as the motivation for industrial reductions in energy and consumption and advocates finding market-oriented ways to motivate cuts in household and service sector energy consumption.
- Tanaka praised German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s goals to increase energy efficiency 3%/year and cut emissions 40% by 2020 but suggested they could not be attained while sticking to Germany’s avowal to eliminate nuclear energy.

IEA map showing that there are a lot of people keeping the lights on, surfing the web. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Tanaka, on global energy consumption: "The leading industrial countries are not on a path to sustainable energy future…There was a big effort to increase efficiency during the 1980s because of the oil price shocks…But these efforts subsided over the 1990s…We are talking about a lifestyle issue which the agency will soon have to address…"
- Tanaka, on why industrial sector energy consumption and emissions fell: "The reason is competition…With globalization, manufacturing companies have had to become more competitive if they want to survive. That means cutting back on energy costs…There should be ways to make energy-efficient households more attractive to buy…"