Hot year for Exxon, planet

George Bush admitted that the US is "addicted to oil" in his State of the Union speech.

Is this the first step in the 'Oilaholics Anonymous' programme? No one should be under the illusion that the Bush Administration has undergone a fundamental shift in its position on Climate Change, but he has certainly knuckled under to pressure. The administration has been forced to acknowledge they have a serious problem by the growing pressure from states, cities, the business community and the public (as well as the last 6 Environmental Protection Agency administrators) to do something about climate change, and the weight of high gasoline prices, the high price of energy, and on the vulnerability of their supply lines.

The good news is that while the Bush Administration slept, others were preparing the future. Preliminary figures have the USA leading the world in annual installed wind capacity in 2005, some 2500 megawatts. Solar photovoltaic technology is now cost competitive in California markets where demand outstrips supply. And biofuels are becoming an increasingly significant part of the energy landscape.

If Bush wants to get started on a 12-step programme, he could to worse than address the current balance of U.S. federally funded energy research, development and investment. While it now contains some substantial support for renewable energy technologies, it is too heavily weighted towards nuclear, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen, and not on deploying the technologically-developed, market-ready renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies that are available today.