Post Tagged with: "Financial Times"

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu rules out raising petrol prices to European levels through increased taxes or regulation; says politically infeasible

May 28, 2009 at 11:10 pm

(Source: Financial Times)

Reducing America’s reliance on oil by raising petrol prices to European levels through increased taxes or regulation is not politically feasible, says Steven Chu, US secretary of energy.

The admission comes as Congress considers a cap- and-trade system that opponents say will substantially increase petrol prices just as oil prices soar to their highest level in six months.

In the past Mr Chu, a Nobel laureate, has argued that, if the US wanted to reduce its carbon emissions, policymakers would have to find a way to increase petrol prices to levels in Europe. But in an interview on Wednesday with the Financial Times, Mr Chu said: “At this moment, let me be frank, it is not politically feasible.”

Higher petrol prices are likely to be one of the biggest potential sticking points ofPresident Barack Obama’s cap-and-trade system when the bill moves from the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives to the more conservative Senate late this year.

Mr Chu’s move against using taxes to raise US petrol prices is likely to frustrate environmental advocates who believe that the only way seriously to change Americans’ consumption habits is through higher prices.

Unlike Europe, the US hardly taxes its fuel, leading to pump prices that are often one third of those in Europe and to the average American consuming double the amount of oil of his European counterpart.

But Mr Chu warns that Americans will have to learn to live with higher petrol prices even if Washington does not enact policy that boosts them.

“Regardless of what one does in any sort of taxation, I believe that prices of oil and natural gas will go up in the coming decades,” he said, adding: “They will naturally go up just because of fundamental supply and demand issues.”

Mr Chu was adamant that a cap-and-trade system would be necessary to cut emissions. “We need to begin to put a price on carbon. We need to ratchet down the carbon,” he said.

The bill currently under consideration in Congress would reduce emissions by about 2 per cent a year.

A key question, however, was “how to help the US make the transition”, he said. Many states are heavily dependent on coal, or have energy-intensive industries, and the administration will need to win over lawmakers from these states to have a chance of passing the legislation.

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Wacko economics! New car prices undercut used models in U.K.

April 9, 2009 at 11:43 am

 (Source: Financial Times)

In one of the most striking signs yet of the conflicting pressures buffeting the automotive industry, some new cars are now selling more cheaply than used vehicles.

A shortage of good-quality used cars combined with aggressive discounts offered on many new ones by retailers and manufacturers now mean that some new cars can be had for as much as £1,000 less than used ones in good condition. 

Parker’s, the car-buying price guide, on Wednesday said it had spotted a new Vauxhall Corsa available from one dealer for £5,995 – nearly £500 less than a used model with 5,160 miles on the clock selling for £6,494.

The guide also spotted a Mazda 6, available new for £11,485 from car supermarket Cheap-Cars-Online, being sold used with 2,500 miles on its clock for £1,000 more, at £12,499.

“For the first time, used cars are more expensive than new,” Parker’s said. It noted that the shift was not across the board, but said this was the first time it had seen used cars command a premium over new ones since the guide’s launch in 1972.

In recent months used car prices have been climbing in the UK and many other big markets, including the US, because of a shortage of available stock as new car sales plummet and recession-squeezed consumers shift to second-hand models.

Manufacturers including Vauxhall – owned by struggling General Motors – and Peugeot-Citroën are offering steep incentives on new cars to keep their inventories low as they contend with their slowest sales in decades.

The financial squeeze faced by many dealers and the rise of car supermarkets and brokers have also contributed to the downward pressure on new-car prices.

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Financial Times: Briefing on Intelligent Transportion Systems

March 31, 2009 at 6:04 pm

(Source: Financial Times)

Published with the support of The European Commission, United Nations, ERTICO and The OECD, The Intelligent Transport briefing was introduced by Eva Molnar Director for Transport UNECE, Antonio Tajani Vice President and Commissioner for Transport, European Commission, Denise Plumpton, The UK Highways Agency, German Minister for Transportation Wolfgang Tiefensee and French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau.

 The briefing was inserted into and distributed by The Financial Times in March 2009 throughout all European and Scandinavian territories. Government agencies within Europe will account for another 20,000 copiesThe Financial Times with its exceptional business coverage and focus continues to dominate the market for the delivery of c-level executives and decision makers at the highest level and as such provides the perfect home for this briefing. Building intelligence into our vehicles and infrastructures can make a positive long term contribution to resolving the problems society and business face in terms of congestion, reliability, safety security and the environment.  

In the European Union alone, 20 per cent of GDP is generated by the transport sector. This equates to 1,900 billion euros, 16 million jobs, or nine per cent of all EU employment. How do we improve safety and security, and how do we minimise the negative environmental impact of many transport systems? These are not easy questions, but all answers depend not least on putting greater intelligence into our infrastructures and transport systems, in turn helping users make more intelligent choices about their journeys.

 

Containing more than 30 case studies The 36 page briefing provides a comprehensive source of advice and guidance for board level executives, senior management and Government executives explaining  deployments in a variety of modes and with varying applications. It features real-life examples, case studies and frameworks that demonstrate the successful deployment of solutions and trials across Europe and carefully analyses capabilities, possibilities and particularly advantages.

The briefing explains how EU moves towards a high quality, safer, more efficient and sustainable transport infrastructure in Europe. How we can make travel mass transit and ticketing more efficient (safer, less polluting, cheaper, and better informed).How we can help achieve ‘Best Value’ as a result of greater information gathering and improved decision-making. How we can reduce the effects of pollution from vehicles by better management. How we can reduce the number of accidents by providing drivers with more information about conditions on the roads they are using. How we help drivers find the best route to their destination, and change that route if major incidents occur on it. How we can help improve the security of passengers and staff by providing extra communications, better information and how to improve integration between different management systems, through the use of common databases. The report will gives readers of the Financial Times essential insight into how organisations have approached such implementations and the benefits that have been derived in a number of sectors.

Click here to read more or read/download the PDF file here.  (Image below is the ITS Briefing Supplement’s  cover)

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Hybrid cars sales in the US are falling at a ‘breakneck pace’

March 18, 2009 at 3:30 pm

(Source: Financial Times)

Despite the US government’s determination to increase efficiency standards and become energy independent, hybrid cars sales in the US are falling at a ‘breakneck pace’ – even faster than overall car sales, reports the LA Times:

Last month, only 15,144 hybrids sold nationwide, down almost two-thirds from April, when the segment’s sales peaked and gas averaged $3.57 a gallon. That’s far larger than the drop in industry sales for the period and scarcely a better showing than January, when hybrid sales were at their lowest since early 2005.

In July, U.S. Toyota dealers didn’t have enough Prius models in stock to last two days, and many were charging thousands of dollars above sticker price for the few they had.

Today there are about 80 days’ worth on hand, and dealers are working much harder — even with the help of $500 factory rebates — to move the egg-shaped gas-savers off lots from Santa Monica to Miami.

The gist of the story is even though hybrids are more expensive and therefore less attractive to consumers in these recession-bound times, car makers are compelled by government regulations to continue developing them. Hybrid cars are not particularly profitable for the industry either; Toyota only recently began to turn a profit on its Prius.

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Financial Times reviews President Obama’s Infrastructure Spending – Highway to hell revisited

March 5, 2009 at 7:57 pm

(Source: Financial Times)

“History reminds us,” President Barack Obama told both houses of the US Congress on Tuesday night, “that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas.” By “the nation”, Mr Obama means “the government”. We can tell by the episodes he uses to make his point: the establishment of universal public education, the GI Bill of Rights and – alluded to but not named – the Highway Act of 1956, at the time of its passage the largest public works project in US history.

Mr Obama’s praise for the Highway Act is disturbing. In arguments over his stimulus package and his preliminary budget released on Thursday, Republicans have made the lazy assumption that government intervention in the economy can never succeed. Mr Obama shows signs of the opposite error – believing it can never fail.

The Highway Act probably has more defenders than detractors. But Mr Obama should be among the latter. The act, which budgeted $25bn in federal money to build 41,000 miles of motorway, exacerbated the very problems Mr Obama has been most eager to solve – spoliation of the environment, dependence on foreign oil, overburdening of state and local budgets, abandonment of the inner-city poor and reckless speculation in real-estate development, to name a few.

A lot of people complain today about the rump of Republican disbelievers in Keynes, feckless though they may be, who fiddle while Rome burns. There was no hint of such heresy in 1956. The Senate passed the bill 89-1. Otherwise, the political climate bore some resemblance to our own: conformism bred of confusiofinancial meltdown whodunnit in FTn. A 40,000 mile highway network had been on the wish list of the armed forces since 1944. Eisenhower was a big backer, and had hopes of justifying it as a stimulus during the recession of 1954. That downturn was long past when the bill came to a vote, but the vested interests remained, and so did the fear that one’s constituents might think it a bit communist to vote against a highway bill.

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