CONTEST TO NAME THE ABUNDANCE OF NEW ENERGY

Contest: Replace the ‘Saudi Arabia’ Trope!
Kate Galbraith, July 1, 2009 (NY Times)

"…I was listening to a news call with Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, and Ken Salazar, the Interior secretary…Nevada, [Mr. Reid] said, is the 'Saudi Arabia of solar energy.' …But is it? …[W]ith all due respect to Mr. Reid, claims for 'the Saudi Arabia of solar energy' have already been made on behalf of Australia and Africa.

"Forbes recently suggested that Saudi Arabia was the Saudi Arabia of solar power…North Dakota…[is] the 'Saudi Arabia of wind,' according to the state’s Farmers Union…The Midland Reporter-Telegram claims the title for Texas…Slate slaps the designation on the Great Plains, a professor of civil engineering…[says it is] the Gulf of Maine and ABC News gives it to the United States generally."

From the NY Times. (click to enlarge)

"Geothermal? We’re back to Nevada, as well as Colorado. And during a visit to The New York Times last week, Dan Reicher, the director of climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org, called Texas the Saudi Arabia of geothermal energy.

"The point…is to suggest that this place or that possesses giant reserves of a potential resource…But given that the planet’s oil supplies, including those in Saudi Arabia, are finite by their very nature, it might well be time to find a new metaphor — particularly when referring to renewable energy sources."

Not the Saudi Arabia they were thinking of? (click to enlarge)

"… Matthew Simmons, the author of “Twilight in the Desert” (2005), has argued that Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves are peaking, and could decrease far faster than Saudi officials say…That theory, of course, is controversial — and it is strongly disputed by Saudi officials…Seth Kaplan, a vice president at the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental group, suggests that if Mr. Simmons is right, 'the Saudi Arabia metaphor is not what people want it to mean. It could be synonymous with an over-inflated estimate…[which means] Saudi Arabia is not the Saudi Arabia of oil.'

"Readers, we solicit your ideas for a new stock phrase to describe a location’s renewable energy potential. We’ll publish the best candidates — and unscientifically choose a winner — in a future post…" [Email a new phrase to: greeninc@nytimes.com]