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

V. Setty Pendakur pendakur at interchange.ubc.ca
Fri Sep 9 02:06:16 JST 2005


Yet, many will not buy these documents unless it has some thing unique which other sources on the web do not.  IEA work may be good and have lots good data but there are many other sources which are free.  Many agencies are finding the selling of documents a not so revenue raising measure.

Cheers.  Setty.


Dr. V. Setty Pendakur
Professor Emeritus, University of BC
Honorary Professor, National Academy of Sciences of the PRC
Chair, TRB-ABE90 & Director, ITDP
President
Pacific Policy and Planning Associates
702--1099 Marinaside Crescent
Vancouver, BC, Canada  V6Z 2Z3
Phone: 604-263-3576; Fax:604-263-6493
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lee Schipper 
  To: eric.britton at ecoplan.org ; sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org ; NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com 
  Cc: czegras at MIT.EDU ; Lew.Fulton at unep.org 
  Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2005 8:21 AM
  Subject: [sustran] Re: Paying for PDF files of work done by funded agencies onthetopic of sustainable developmen


  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.




  ================================================================
  SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). Because of the history of the list, the main focus is on urban transport policy in Asia.



  ================================================================
  SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). Because of the history of the list, the main focus is on urban transport policy in Asia.
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