Jeff Greenberg / Contributor via Getty
In 1974, 17 countries mostly from Europe—but also including the United States and Japan—realized they were ill-prepared to confront a global energy crisis. While major oil-producing nations had Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, major oil-consuming nations had no formal organization with which to strategize during times of energy shortfalls. So they founded the International Energy Agency, or IEA. It now has 31 members with the goal of “cooperation on a variety of issues” relating to energy supply, including a “collective emergency response mechanism” that ensures a “stabilizing influence” during times of energy crises.We are in one of those times now thanks in large part to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the IEA has released a 10-point plan to cut oil use. “These efforts would reduce the price pain being felt by consumers around the world, lessen the economic damage, shrink Russia’s hydrocarbon revenues, and help move oil demand towards a more sustainable pathway,” the agency said in a press release. If done, the IEA estimated it would lower oil demand by 2.7 million barrels per day within four months, “equivalent to the oil demand of all the cars in China.”For European and East Asian member countries, the 10-point plan sounds pretty doable. But the U.S. is not only doing none of it, it is difficult to imagine the U.S., or any city within the U.S., doing any of it. The plan calls for the following measures:
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- Reduce speed limits on highways by at least 10 km/h (6 mph)
- Work from home up to three days a week where possible
- Car-free Sundays in large cities
- Make public transport cheaper; incentivize micro-mobility, walking and cycling
- Alternate private car use in large cities (as in, bring back the odd/even license plate system for getting gas in the 1970s but for driving a car into a large city)
- Urge carpooling
- Promote efficient use of freight trucks and goods delivery
- Prefer high-speed and night trains to planes where possible
- Avoid business travel when alternatives exist
- Hasten adoption of electric and more fuel efficient vehicles