Morgan Stanley’s research shows that cars are driven just 4% of the time, which is an astonishing waste considering that the average cost of car ownership is nearly $9,000 per year -- It might be one explanation why UBER is valued at a whopping $50 Billion.
U.S. Transportation fuel consumption accounts for over 70 percent of total U.S. oil consumption, and more than 65 percent of that amount is for personal vehicles. American drivers consume about nine million barrels of gasoline per day for personal transportation, about 45 percent of total U.S. oil consumption, and big bucks await anyone who can accurately forecast what those stats will look like in 10 years time.The energy industry is being disrupted into new definitions that aren’t exactly clear yet but as the new head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, tells us in this publication, a lot is at stake -- “the situation is no longer black and white, roles are blurring. In a time when roles are less clear, it is even more important to share information, to speak up on important issues, to be transparent about priorities. The stability of the global energy system, and hence the stability of our organizations, businesses, communities, and societies, depends on such cooperation.”One such subject that binds all these stakeholders is the arrival of carbon emissions and carbon pricing at the top of the global agenda. In an unprecedented step, six of Europe’s largest oil and gas companies came together in May to script a letter to the UN requesting to let them help devise a plan to stop global warming. The hand of cooperation was offered as nearly 200 countries prepare to sign a global climate pact at a UN conference in Paris in December, with some countries seeking an agreement that includes a deadline for phasing out fossil fuels.An international consortium of Islamic scholars and academics issued the Islamic Declaration on Climate Change on August 18th in Istanbul calling on the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, who live in countries that host much of the world’s known oil & gas reserves, to play an active role in combating climate change and have urged governments to conclude an effective universal climate change agreement in Paris at the end of the year.With Climate Targets in Mind, Energy Efficiency is the Way to Go, Arafat Al Yafei, CO2/N2 Development Manager at ADNOC argues in this publication “that there is now little doubt that the world won’t be able to burn all known fossil fuel reserves if it is to meet the climate targets governments have set themselves” under the goal to limit greenhouse gas emissions and global warming to no more than 2C.Perhaps technology will emerge to provide the necessary solutions for all stakeholders - but I wouldn’t count on it.