More Help for Communicating Energy

Here's another great resource for energy communicators: BP Energy Outlook 2030. It has a wealth of data about energy production and use worldwide in 2010 and dares to describe the fast-approaching energy world of 2030. And it presents all this through highly creative graphics like the one above, which consolidates the 2030 expectations for global economic growth, population, energy use, energy use per capita and energy use per GDP into a single graph.

In brief, the Outlook presents a world that is slowing its population growth (but still adding 1.4 billion in the next 20 years), speeding up economic growth (largely outside the OECD), and rapidly improving its energy efficiency, which leads to significant decreases in the amount of energy required per unit of GDP. Overall, energy use will be up about 40%, with nearly all of that increase coming from developing economies.

Nothing can change fast in energy trends. As BP sees it, the make-up of our future energy use will be similar to today's - about the same proportions coming from coal and nuclear as now; quite a bit more from renewables, on a percentage basis, but still up to only 11% of the world's electric power generation. The biggest changes are in oil, which will grow only slightly - partly because of rising prices - and will drop significantly in terms of its share of energy supply; and in natural gas, which is rapidly becoming the "go-to" fuel worldwide. It is expected to provide over a quarter of the global energy supply. The world's total dependence on fossil fuels will drop from 88% of all the energy we use today to about 81% in 2030.

The United States should be in much better shape than we have been in decades - requiring less imported oil and increasing our exports of natural gas. On balance, because of the oil and gas fields being developed on- and off-shore, we'll be getting closer to that elusive goal of energy independence.

The report clearly shows that we need to make the most of all energy options as well as opportunities for improvements in energy efficiency. It's often a hard case to make to influentials and the public. Check out this report - it can help.

The Energy Story, in One Volume

For anyone trying to communicate some of the complexities related to energy and the environment, Daniel Yergin’s new book is a must-have. I say “must-have” rather than “must-read” because it clocks in at about 800 pages, and you may not need to absorb every one of them. But whatever slice of the subject you’re interested in – nuclear power, natural gas and fracking, the effects of the break-up of the Soviet Union, climate change, China’s phenomenal growth in demand, Venezuela’s political weirdness, renewables, the politics and strategic importance of the Persian Gulf, the impact of 9/11, you name it – you’ll find an authoritative account, told in a friendly, compelling narrative. It’s monumental.
The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World follows up on Yergin’s earlier masterwork, The Prize, which traced the history of energy use and policy from the dawn of time to the 1980s. This one brings the story up to date, down to such recent events as the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan and the electric-powered Chevy Volt. In addition to knitting together all the complex strands of energy production, use and policy, Quest is a treasure-trove of anecdotes and statistical nuggets that can enliven almost any effort to communicate about energy. A few examples:
• The developed world uses an average of 14 barrels of oil per person per year; the developing world, only 3 barrels. (What will happen as that number rises to about 6?)
• For years China was adding the equivalent of a full-sized coal-fired power plant every week or two, doubling its electric capacity between 2005 and 2010 and surpassing the U.S. in total generation.
• Worldwide, about 1.6 billion people still have no access to electricity, but rely on kerosene, wood or dung.
• In only six years, between 1998 and 2004, the new generating capacity added in the U.S. amounted to one-fourth of all the capacity built here since Edison’s first station in 1882 – and 90 percent of it burned natural gas.
• Even with a growth in electric power usage that has dropped to only 1.4 percent per year, the U.S. generating fleet will need to grow by about one-third in the next 20 years – equivalent to 150 large nuclear power plants or 300 standard coal-fired plants.
And who knew that the first Presidential Address promoting solar power was not delivered by Clinton, or Carter, or even Nixon, but . . . wait for it . . . President Eisenhower, nearly 60 years ago. You’ll find it all in The Quest.

ASAE's Gold Circle Awards

Are you particularly proud of a recent communications program or product? If so, and you happen to work at a trade association or professional society, consider entering the ASAE Communication Section’s 2012 Gold Circle Award competition. The awards recognize outstanding communications, and will be handed out at the ASAE Marketing, Membership and Communications Conference next May in Washington D.C. You don’t even have to be a PCG client to enter, though we’d be proud to have our work recognized!

All the details you need can be found at www.asaecenter.org/goldcircle. The entry deadline is January 20, 2012. Good luck!

PCG Supports Bread for the City

What’s more fulfilling professionally than enjoying the work you do and the people around you? My short answer: having the opportunity to work with colleagues to do our small part to support a cause that’s doing amazing things for the lives of D.C.’s most vulnerable residents. Earlier this year, PCG began a partnership with Bread for the City, a D.C.-based non-profit organization that provides food, clothing, legal and social services, medical care and a host of other comprehensive services to those in need in the District.

As a first endeavor, our project team, which includes Karen Heinold, Barbara Longsworth and myself, developed an advertisement that appears on several Metrobuses in the District through the end of this year. The intent is to encourage pedestrians and others to support BFC’s Combined Federal Campaign (#61733) and United Way Workplace Campaign (#8219).

We incorporated a QR code in the body of the ad so that people can easily scan it and make a donation right on the spot. It also allows those interested in giving to save the donation link from their smartphones and electronic notepads to reference later.

All in a day's work! :)

We Ran A Marathon and Survived To Blog About It

When co-workers gather for lunch, the conversation topics are endless. But lately, the conversation at the PCG lunch table has been leaning more and more often to running. (Sorry, non-runners.) That’s because two PCGers recently completed the Philadelphia Marathon!

That’s right. Two of us were crazy enough to put in weeks of training to run 26.2 miles. For fun. While Philly was my second marathon, it was the debut marathon for PCG Coordinator Natalie Vegel.  

We survived!

Our mutual love for running was discovered over lunch one day. This discovery quickly revealed the coincidence that we were both registered for the Philly Marathon in November. With several friends training for fall marathons, a training group quickly formed. We were a gang of runners comprised of friends, significant others, and current and former co-workers, all with the goal of conquering 26.2 miles in various races several months down the road.

For 16+ weeks, the alarm went off early on Saturday mornings and we collectively headed into the early-morning darkness to conquer the gradually increasing mileage. (We even raced the clock against a looming hurricane one weekend!) 

Before we knew it, we were tapering (translation: no more crazy mileage) and the big day was upon us. As we nervously gathered on race morning, we marveled at the great racing weather and confirmed with each other that yes, we were really doing this.

And run the marathon we did. With friends and fellow runners cheering us along the way, we crossed the finish line one by one. In one piece and with big smiles on our faces.

To answer a question we've both been hearing quite a bit over the past week - yes, there are definitely more marathons in the future for both of us!

Impressions of a First Trip to China

I just got back from a first-time trip to China, and my head is still spinning. Not from the jet-lag (though that’s still fogging things up a little), but from trying to sort out everything we saw. It’s one thing to read about a country that’s rapidly growing and changing, but another to see, first-hand, the astonishing history that’s being made. The scale is overwhelming, and so are the contradictions.

We passed through a little-known city in southwestern China, Chongqing (formerly Chung King). It’s the largest metropolitan area in the world, approaching 40 million, and has a massive, glitzy skyline that looks like a cross between New York and Las Vegas – modern, rich. Then we saw that our luggage was being carried from a van to a boat on bamboo poles, balanced on the backs of laborers straining under loads of hundreds of pounds. Just the way it was done 200 years ago, in the shadow of neon-flashing skyscrapers.

Sleek high-rises are everywhere, with more popping up daily. Shanghai alone has built over 6,000 skyscrapers higher than 35 floors just in the past 20 years. That’s 300 a year. But those shimmering buildings can’t hide the bitter poverty of the vast majority of Chinese, with disabled beggars lining the streets near every tourist attraction.

The most blatant contradiction we saw is the country’s basic governing philosophy. Officially, it still reveres Mao. In souvenir shops we saw his likeness plastered across books, key rings, coffee mugs and T-shirts. But in reality, the country has essentially rejected his fundamental economic views. It seems that China has adopted Wild West-style capitalism – buying, owning, building, selling, making fortunes, all with little regulation. And the Chinese are using their new prosperity to buy into Western culture on a massive scale, with more signs for Starbucks, KFC, 7-11, Subway, Hagen Daz, Gap, Hooters and Apple than (it seems) noodle shops. And more shops for the economic elite, like Prada and Hermes, than we could count. The dress is Western, the ads are Western, and the people seem to love Americans. I was tempted to stand in the endless line leading to Mao’s tomb in Tiananmen Square just to see him spinning in his grave.

The educated young people seem to accept all this. Those smart and lucky enough to succeed on the national academic tests are pouring into the big cities by the million, from farms and small villages, to attend college, get a small apartment in a new high-rise and begin leading a Western-style life. Our tour guides fit this mold. They understand the miracle of China’s booming economy as well as the long-term questions it is raising about the billion-plus still living an 18th-century life in the countrysides. And they realize that they don’t enjoy many of the basic freedoms that the Western world sees as sacrosanct.

To me, some of the candid comments of our tour guides summed up these contradictions:

“How can I be so critical of our government? They don’t care what I say to you. You’re foreigners, and you already know all this.”

“Sure, we’d love to have all your freedoms. But we have IPads and apartments. To us, for now, that’s a fair trade.”

“Nobody wants to say it, but we know we’re now capitalist. Anything goes. We don’t have any freedoms – but we can do anything we want.”

Watch this space

Google+: Why it’s Worth Your While

With Facebook as perhaps the most widely used social utility that lets us all stay connected with family, friends and those with whom we have shared interests, you might ask yourself “Where does Google+ fit in?” Well surprisingly enough, many people and organizations alike are drawn to the “Hangout” feature that enables group video chats. With “Circles,” you can push information to segmented groups. For trade associations, that’s especially handy if you only want to reach communications staff within member companies or your government relations contacts. And there’s the inevitable fact that Google is expanding integration of its other assets like YouTube, Google Maps and Google Places with Google+. [I never thought I’d write “Google” so many times in one sentence.] In any event, that’s just a small sample of some of the perks of using Google+.

It’s worth checking out. Click Z, a Mashable publishing partner, offers more reasons why Google+ is worth your while. http://mashable.com/2011/11/16/google-brand-pages-invest/