"IEA wants brakes on fuel consumption" [View All]

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IEA wants brakes on fuel consumption

By Adam Porter in Perpignan, France

Thursday 24 March 2005, 18:09 Makka Time, 15:09 GMT  


Vehicular fuel accounts for a big chunk of global oil consumption


The International Energy Agency (IEA) is to propose drastic cutbacks in car use to halt continuing oil-supply problems. Those cutbacks include anything from car-pooling to outright police-enforced driving bans for citizens.

Fuel "emergency supply disruptions and price shocks" - in other words, shortages - could be met by governments. Not only can governments save fuel by implementing some of the measures suggested, but in doing so they can also shortcut market economics.

An advance briefing of the report, titled Saving Oil in a Hurry: Measures for Rapid Demand Restraint in Transport, states this succinctly.
 
"Why should governments intervene to cut oil demand during a supply disruption or price surge? One obvious reason is to conserve fuel that might be in short supply.

"But perhaps more importantly, a rapid demand response can send a strong market signal."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/655B03B0-32C2-4BF7-A3E8-F7EFD8144333.htm

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Sorry if this has been posted before - this is the second time today that I've heard someone talking about ways to ration oil. The other was in the context of global warming.