a reason for me to become unemployed...

From the Center for Economic and Policy Research

December 2006, David Rosnick and Mark Weisbrot

European employees work fewer hours per year -- and use less energy per person -- than their American counterparts. This report compares the European and U.S. models of labor productivity and energy consumption. It finds that if all countries worked as many hours per week as U.S. workers do, the world would consume 15 to 30 percent more energy by 2050 than it would by following Europe's model.

www.cepr.net/index.php

i may run the risk of being called a communist, but i've always believed in the need to focus more on decreasing our energy use, not just on alternative/renewable energy.

BIOFUELS: Fidel Castro calls for energy revolution
E&E Publishing Story Tools

Cuban President Fidel Castro took another swing at biofuels today, accusing industrialized countries like the United States of being able to demand the fuel with no fear of its consequences.

"Insatiable in its demand, the empire has called on the world to produce biofuels to free the United States from dependence on imported oil," Castro said in an editorial published in Cuba's state-run newspaper Granma. "Nothing is stopping U.S. and European capital from financing biofuels. They could even give the funds to Brazil and Latin America."

The leader said industrialized nations would save over $140 billion every year "without any concern whatsoever for the fallout in terms of climate change and hunger, which will affect developing countries the most."

In an article earlier this year, Castro said President Bush's promotion of food crops for fuel use will result in 3 billion deaths from hunger worldwide (Greenwire, March 29).

Advocating for an energy revolution, Castro also called for a wholesale replacement of incandescent lights with fluorescent bulbs as well as an overhaul of domestic and commercial systems that are energy inefficient (Isabel Sanchez, Agence France-Presse, May 1). -- EB