I agree with that logic, though from my perspective "mp$" could be even more useful as we enter a world in which the gallons we're using aren't directly comparable, and as electricity enters the transportation mainstream, resisting easy conversion to gallons without heroic assumptions and creating potentially over-optimistic assessments of the overall efficiency of plug-in hybrid cars.

Miles per dollar has much to recommend it, particularly for its simplicity and alignment with the priority consumers put on value. However, it also has two key disadvantages. Unlike mpg, it changes every time fuel prices do, so any comparisons based on mp$ are only snapshots at a point in time. Nor does it address the emissions associated with that dollar's worth of energy, though mpg doesn't do that, either.

the European Union (EU) falling far short of its goal to use renewable energy for 12% of its energy needs by the end of 2010. As of the end of 2006, the EU is at 6.92% renewable energy, having posted an impressive 0.46% gain relative to 2005

reason for the shortfall is that the growth in renewable energy is struggling to compete with a growth in energy demand

"the efforts being made for (renewable energy) development ... are not accompanied by any real effort to conserve energy."

it plans to install a 2.7-megawatt wave energy project off the northeast coast of Maui

oscillating water column technology

which aims to meet 70% of the state's energy needs with renewable energy by 2030

natural gas is okay but it's not ideal. It still emits greenhouse gases and NOx. It's also becoming more volatile and is likely to become much more expensive over the coming years. Also, the power mix in Ontario will become cleaner over the next decade -- no coal, more nuclear, hydroelectric, wind and natural gas. So there's an argument that heating your home with electricity could be cleaner than using natural gas, if you can do it efficiently -- in other words, if you can find a better way than using resistance heating.

a 34-year-old engineer who was a cryogenics expert with the U.S. Navy, realized that conventional air-source heat pumps that are popular in the U.S. south do not perform well in cold climates and are therefore not economical. So he went ahead and built his own, called Acadia, and it can operate efficiently down to minus 30 degrees C.

program that provides financial rewards to utilities based on the performance of their energy efficiency programs.

mirrored solar dish that looks like a home satellite receiver, and produces 3.5 kilowatts of energy

Using its Stirling engine technology, Inifnia thinks it can eventually produce electricity 20 to 30 percent cheaper than today’s existing solar panels. And in times of peak energy demand—on a hot summer day, for instance—it could even be competitive with electricity from gas-powered or coal-fired plants.

Renewables now accounts for about  8% of Lithuania’s energy consumption (see the Commission’s DG Energy’s fact sheet on Lithuania’s renewable energy situation of 2007). In its latest renewable energy proposal of 23 January 2008, the Commission has set a very ambitious target of 23% of renewables to be reached by Lithuania in 2020.

making a six-dish mini power plant producing up to 150kW of grid-ready electrical power during the day.

with a net solar-to-electric conversion efficiency reaching 30 percent. Each unit can produce up to 25 kilowatts of daytime power.

Financing and planning concerns also plague the project, with the level of state subsidies to the two main contracting firms - RTE (Réseau de transport électricité) and REE (Red Electrica de Espana) - still to be determined, and with questions remaining about the exact location of the future power cables.

Concerns include the potentially destructive impact of constructing electricity infrastructure in local communities and sensitive environments, and local civic organisations have mounted highly organised campaigns to contest the project, arguing that they have been given insufficient justification for the construction of the necessary power lines. 

if the interconnection is not completed, the Iberian Peninsula risks becoming an "island", cut off from the electricity potential and supply of the rest of the European continent.

nventor who stumbled upon a way of making electric induction motors work, at the very least, more efficiently

. At most, he believes he's figured out a way to manipulate magnetic fields so that instead of slowing down a generator (according to Lenz's law in physics) it speeds it up. In fact, it gets caught in a positive feedback loop, resulting in a dramatic acceleration without any change to power input.

he Covenant consists of the formal commitment of the adhering cities to go beyond the objectives of the EU in terms of reducing their CO2 emissions through energy efficiency and renewable energy actions. Almost 100 cities throughout Europe, including 15 capital cities, have expressed their early support for the Covenant.

While most seem to present a business-as-usual approach, some are more progressive, but without a clear definition as to what the new measures will be and how they will be implemented.

Map showing smart metering programmes around the world, including details of technology used, dates, volumes etc.

Industry groups, such as the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) and BusinessEurope, are pushing for the continued allocation of a set amount of free permits, arguing that full auctioning of permits would be too costly and would drive factories and jobs out of the EU

Over the weekend (20 January), one Commission official confirmed the plans, saying that the EU's aluminium, steel and cement industries would only be subjected to full permit auctioning gradually over a period of several years, reported Reuters.

But the EU executive may scrap certain elements of its original plans, including the idea to force member states that fail to reach interim targets to grant third country companies access to domestic renewables support schemes, according to ENDS Europe. 

As the world's fifth-largest exporter of oil and Western Europe's biggest exporter of natural gas, Norway has found itself under increasing pressure to improve its environment profile. The new plan includes offsetting Norwegian emissions by stopping deforestation in developing countries and planting trees. On the domestic front, money is to be earmarked for investment in renewable energy and new taxes on fuel introduced as part of a 'carrot and stick' strategy promoting more environmentally friendly behaviour and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

become a leader in the global technology race in the new experimental and costly technology known as carbon capture and storage (CCS)