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Story of the week: Power Plays

The energy folks are playing a complicated game with consumers as evidenced by news this week that accusations of 鈥榞reenwashing鈥� have led to a doubling of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), from 150 in 2006 to 300 last year. ASA head, Lord Finsbury, complained about words like 鈥榮ustainable,鈥� 鈥榸ero carbon,鈥� and 鈥榖est in class鈥� being sprinkled about like magic green pixie dust.

A complaint about Shell saying that it used its CO2 emissions to 鈥榞row flowers鈥� against a pretty picture of blooms issuing forth from industrial chimneys was upheld. In fact, just 0.325% of the company鈥檚 are used for that purpose.

And while the energy producers are keen to tell us to reduce energy in our homes in what has always been a somewhat surprising message 鈥� like Smirnoff telling us to 鈥榙rink responsibly' 鈥� it seems that they鈥檇 prefer we use trial and error to achieve this.

The industry has squashed attempts by the Government to get it to pay for 拢15 a pop smart meters for all homes. Why? Because it fears we might use less energy, the Guardian guesses.

Debate of the week

Phil Clark has correctly sensed a tectonic battle between pessimism and optimism on the blog, although his 鈥榰pside 鈥� that things change and improve 鈥� is another鈥檚 downside, namely that things 鈥� resources 鈥� have reached a critical point of depletion. An essay by economist, Paul Krugman, in the New York Times, entitled 鈥楻unning out of Planet to Exploit鈥� suggests that 鈥榯he good times may stopped rolling鈥�; while, over at Business Week, equally celebrated dismal scientist, Michael Mandel, suggests we should, 鈥榯hrow Malthus off the bus. 鈥楾echnology and productivity鈥� will save the day.

Pic of the week

Pic of the week is not a project or a mug shot of Al Gore, but of the Jet Stream above the US. It seems to be moving northwards at 1.25 miles a year, creating less rain in the already dry south and more storms in the north. Global warming seems to be the culprit.