[sustran] Re: Paying for PDF files of work done by funded agencies on thetopic of sustainable developmen

[Lee Schipper]

In defence of the IEA, where I was for 6 years, the "taxpayer dollars" do not really cover all the IEA expenses. Member countries
want studies and action but won't fork over the taxpayer dollars required to do all of that work. Indeed the US has for years maintained
the IEA budget will not rise even in current dollars -- I don't know whether that is still true, but I can say when we said to the members "Give us funds to
really nail down key issues like automobile use and fuel economy (and CO2 emissions) they would not appropriate extra funds to do that.  The nights and weekends I spent
on work the members wanted attests to my own appreciation for getting t hese figures right and out to the public. Consequently the IEA found that it had to sell many of its recent publications to make things go together. 
 

Try Eric to pry loose the data that go into the Paris mobile source emissions inventory. We and the IEA were given the run around for years.  Ask ADEME if they will provide you the
publicly funded yearly studies of space heating in French households. "Client Confidential" says the CEREN, who does the work. ADEME publishes bits and pieces.

So they are NOT hustling odd bucks, they are bucking a trend of underfinancing of these kinds of efforts. I think making the  pdf available inexpensively was a good move, and saves air pollution since it need not be mailed anywhere!

Note this is MY opinion today, not that of the IEA (nor necessarily of the IEA when I was there.)

>>> eric.britton at ecoplan.org 9/8/2005 11:03:28 AM >>>
Last week our colleague Lew Fulton in full innocence and helpfulness wrote
us all a note about an energy study which the agency has carried out
(remember you and I paid for it with our taxpayer dollars), which the IEA is
flogging on their web site.  (Hey, they want € 60 for this virtual report.
Life is sweet eh?)

I want to make a BIG DEAL out of this and I hope that a good number of you
will join with me on this.

These agencies should not be trying to hustle up some odd bucks by selling
these kinds of reports over the web. It costs them nothing and there are
plenty of people out there in the world who may want to have a look and
maybe even a very close one in order to build on it so as to be able to take
a next step toward a more sustainable and fairer world.

I am sure that they will bellyache that they need the money and that the
only way they can pay the rent is if they have these additional streams of
income. Hmm.  At least needs to be looked at.

We here at The Commons and the New Mobility Agenda, and a very large number
of our concerned colleagues and grasp world wide, share our results without
asking for a dime. Maybe we're nuts?

Am I entirely wrong on this? Your views.




On 9/7/05, Lew Fulton <Lew.Fulton at unep.org> wrote:
> Thanks Chris. This prompts me to mention that the IEA has a new book out
> called "Saving Oil in a Hurry", with some ideas and analysis on what
> governments can do to achieve rapid oil use reductions. It's available at
> their website www.iea.org, though it's not free unfortunately, but the pdf
version isn't too pricey.




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