During a press conference last week Bush asked what he thought about economists’ predictions that we would see $4+ gas prices by early spring. He was surprised and said he had not heard that. This is frightening to say the least. The President of the United States, who started a war over oil that is estimated to cost us $5 trillion dollars before it is over, doesn’t know how much gas costs. I wonder if he knows what a burden this is for the average family- prices have tripled during his administration. And it’s not just gas. Heating oil and energy prices have skyrocketed.

Today oil passed the inflation-adjusted high reached during the Arab Oil Crisis of the late seventies and early eighties. World stock markets are in a tailspin. The House of Representatives have passed a bill ending $17 billion in handouts to oil companies (who made $146 billion in profits last year) and moving that money into alternative energy tax credits. These credits are critical to encouraging rapid development of sustainable energy alternatives that can help us end our oil addiction. Yet Republicans in the Senate are blocking this bill and the President is threatening a veto. This partisan block voting is destroying our economy in exchange for short term gain by an industry sector intimately associated with this Administration.

New Scientist reports on a breakthrough in LED lighting technology that solves two big issues: the quality of the light’s color balance and the efficiency of the units. Although the technology is several years from commercial application (watch how fast that accelerates if this really works), it is an important technological breakthrough as lighting accounts for 25% of the electrical use in the US.

Basically, a coating of nano crystals alters the color balance of the LEDs, creating a much more pleasing light. The same coating focuses the light much more efficiently, creating 300 lumens of output per watt of electricity used. How important is this? Here’s the comparable output of other light sources:

• Commercial white LEDs: 30 lumens
• Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFBs): 60 lumens
• Standard incandescent bulbs: 15 lumens (!)
• Nano-coated LEDs: 300 lumens

Five times more efficient than mercury polluting CFBs is a big improvement. I hope we see some serious money thrown at this technology.

Bloomberg reports that Japanese PM Fukuda has announced plans to take the lead in developing alternative energy and controlling emissions:

“Over the next five years, Japan will spend $30 billion on new environmental technology at home and provide another $10 billion for developing countries, Fukuda said in a speech today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Fukuda also proposed a 30 percent improvement in energy efficiency globally by 2020.”

Nice to see someone taking the lead while our leaders waffle. Do you think they see a market opportunity?

BusinessWeek covers the Designer’s Accord, a group formed to give designers of all kinds a framework for making sustainable design decisions.

From the article:

“Despite the fact that many of the principles themselves are fairly simple, the Accord marks a paradigm shift: First of all, designers across the industry—including leading studios such as IDEO, SmartDesign, Continuum, and frog—have signed up, and the two big professional associations in the U.S.—the AIGA and the Industrial Designers Society of America, which together represent more than 22,000 members—have endorsed it. While Casey counts more than 3,500 signees now, the number has been growing rapidly, with several multinationals and companies with internal design teams signing on. “

The fact that leading design firms are onboard is critical. Dealing with energy and environmental issues is going to be driven by business- rather than government legislation which is always too late, too little and too influenced by those whose goal is to protect the status quo.