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Work From Home and Drive More Slowly To Save Energy, IEA Says (bbc.com) 152

Posted by BeauHD from the supply-and-demand dept.
As energy prices soar from the Iran conflict, the International Energy Agency is urging governments to cut energy use by taking up measures like remote work and reduced speed limits. The group warns the energy security crisis could persist for months, even if supply routes stabilize. "I believe the world has not yet well understood the depth of the energy security challenge we are facing," said IEA's executive director, Fatih Birol. "It is much bigger than what we had in the 1970s... It is also bigger than the natural gas price shock we experienced after the Russia's invasion of Ukraine." The BBC reports: Thirty-two countries are members of the IEA, including the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan and 24 other European nations. Its role is to act as a global watchdog, providing analysis and recommendations on global energy problems, such as energy security and the transition to clean energy. The IEA's other suggestions for governments, businesses and individuals include:

- Promoting use of public transport
- Giving private cars access to city centres on alternate days
- Encouraging car sharing and efficient driving habits
- Avoiding air travel where possible, especially business flights
- Switching to electric cooking

It also said there should be a focused effort to preserve liquid petroleum gas for cooking and other essential uses, by switching bio-fuel converted vehicles onto gas and introducing other measures to reduce its use. Birol said these proposals were in addition to action taken by IEA member countries earlier this month, when they agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil, 20% of its emergency reserves. Several countries in Asia have implemented emergency four-day workweeks and work-from-home mandates as they have been hit particularly hard from the conflict. Fortune notes: "Asia is particularly dependent on oil exports from the Middle East; Japan and South Korea respectively source 90% and 70% of their oil from the region."
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Work From Home and Drive More Slowly To Save Energy, IEA Says More

Work From Home and Drive More Slowly To Save Energy, IEA Says

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  • Drive more slowly? What does that mean? What country do they think this is, anyway!

    • Drive more slowly? What does that mean? What country do they think this is, anyway!

      I think the country they think this is is one of 29.

      That said, I confess to being more than a little bit smug, already owning an EV and living where basically all of our electricity is either hydro-electric (natural waterfalls, not dams) or nuclear.

      While the price of everything is going to go up because trucks & everyone else aren't.

      • That said, I confess to being more than a little bit smug, already owning an EV ...

        I do too, but I'm fully expecting utility rates to be jacked up just because they can. I've got a hedge against that though, too. Awhile back I got an e-scooter for short trips and for taking on the train to avoid the expense of parking downtown. It's certainly not something that works for every trip (especially with Florida's weather being what it is), but the energy costs to ride it are basically a rounding error.

      • Re: Work from home? I'm all in! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Saturday March 21, 2026 @06:56AM (#66052882)

        You have no reason to be smug. Most of the fossil fuels anyone uses comes from the products they buy, not their own travel. Do you make all your own food from scratch or are they shipped by plane/boat/truck like everyone else's?

    • It means wind resistance increases non-linear with velocity through atmosphere.

      i.e. the faster you drive, the more fuel it takes to get to the destination.

      This isn't hard to figure out.

      • LOL Yeah I'm aware. My point was that Americans don't know what driving "more slowly" means.

        • LOL Yeah I'm aware. My point was that Americans don't know what driving "more slowly" means.

          If they drive a Surbaru or a Honda CR-V, yes they do. Under no circumstances do they drive the speed limit and if they go down short hills it is guaranteed they'll put on their brakes.

          • There is sure no shortage of slow drivers around here. Getting around them is what makes driving fun and engaging.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

          They do. The last time the US broke the world's oil system... okay, the time before, uh, well, a few times ago, they set their national highway speed limit at 55 miles/hour. It seems a lot of people actually did slow down, at least until oil got cheap again.

          • I was there when the speed limit was 55. Literally *nobody* drove 55 mph, except for maybe retirement age people. If you drove less than 65 mph, you were being passed left and right.

            You are right about one thing: this oil crisis was a self-inflicted problem. I'm sorry it is also inflicting pain on all the other countries in the world.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kisai ( 213879 )

      Funny how all this "return to office" mandates is now blowing up in those companies faces.

    • Given that the average speed city of traffic in the US nationwide is 7 MPH, you might as well just switch to a bicycle.

      • You haven't been to Texas, have you!

        Most major city streets in Houston have a speed limit of 45, and traffic actually flows at 55.
        Houston freeways have posted speed limits of 60-65, but you'll get run over if you go that slow (outside of rush hour, at least). Even during rush hour, most freeways are heavy, but still flow at high speeds.
        Two-lane country highways in Texas typically have posted speed limits of 75.
        Some interstate highways in Texas have a posted speed limit of 85.

        • I've liven in Houston my entire life, well-documented in my 20 years of Slashdot posting history, and I can say confidently you are either lying, or have been lied to.

          Freeway traffic is bumper-to-bumper from 3 to 7 PM, Monday through Friday. Every single freeway, and way beyond the city limits, stretching deep into Katy, Conroe, Baytown, and Sugarland. That's every cardinal direction, for those of you who've never been.

      • Except that you can't ride a bike (or other micromobility device) on the highway. You have to ride on regular roads and follow all the same traffic signals that cars do, so only in very specific situations does it end up actually being faster than driving a car. Like for me, around the holidays I can certainly get to the Walmart near my home much faster on my e-scooter than in my car, but that's mostly because there's a route I can take on the scooter that entirely bypasses any traffic and I don't have to

        • Yeah, if you were going to put in a dedicated bike trail that paralleled the highway, that could be something, but at that point you may as well just put in rail and run a train instead.

          Apart from the fact that riding next to a highway is a bit grim: why not do both?

    • And stopping flying down to Florida each week for a round of golf.

      As president, his home is the WH.

  • Energy Crisis (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Friday March 20, 2026 @05:10PM (#66051938)

    By "energy crisis" do you mean petty asshole starting a war in the middle east like the last two republican presidents?

    • Re:Energy Crisis (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ZombieCatInABox ( 5665338 ) on Friday March 20, 2026 @05:33PM (#66051990)

      And invading another country. And treathening to invade two other allied countries and NATO members.

      But what's the point ? The only rebuttals you'll get from the resident trumptards will be something about Obama or Biden, or some emails or some laptop. Oh, and TDS. Let's not forget TDS.

      • Not a Trumptard, and the best rebuttal is something about the timing being right on this, we won't get another chance to topple an evil regime and that's worth consideration at least.

        It may have still been ultimately misguided but any real opportunity to get rid of those awful clerics can't be taken lightly.

        If you think the one chance we had to offer women in that region a chance at real freedom was not worth taking? You may simply lack humanity.

        • Actually I think this is one of the worst timing.

          You attack them in the middle of the Islamic Holy Month (Ramadan, fasting month). I think that makes it more difficult for the surrounding Islamic nations to get involved.

          Not only that, everyone knows that the Straits of Hormuz will be closed if Iran is attacked by the US. And the US did not have a plan to handle that. And Iran has supplied drones / licenced Russia to make drones based on Iran designs for the Ukraine war. So you will at least have learnt how

        • Re:Energy Crisis (Score:5, Insightful)

          by sound+vision ( 884283 ) on Saturday March 21, 2026 @10:26AM (#66053124) Journal

          We're saving the women now? How are those Afghan women doing today, 25 years after the invasion?

          Yeah, I considered saving the Iranians, and determined we couldn't.

    • Pretty much standard operating procedure then.

    • Yep. (Score:2)

      by abulafia ( 7826 )
      Yes, the same dipshit that calls himself the peace president and minces around talking about redoing the drapes [yahoo.com] like a pantomime suburban housewife.

      (Can you imagine what fun the press would have had with a President Hillary going on about the drapes?)

      And then goes on to be a trashy asshole [cnbc.com] to the Japanese PM. Although that could "just" be dementia-driven disinhibition instead of intentional. And when he's gone, remember that this is what Republicans value - this incompetent, boorish, demented piece of t

  • Silver lining on a very gray cloud. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Friday March 20, 2026 @05:12PM (#66051942) Homepage Journal

    I am happy about renewed interest and political pressure in favor of working from home. Such events help to persuade business leaders who still (selfishly and ignorantly) insist that people should work from an office even when their role does not require it.

    Of course, I would never wish for something like the Iran conflict in order to create this political pressure. It would be much better if public awareness and acceptance of the environmental consequences of widespread business travel (including driving to work every day) would create the necessary political pressure.

    But, that's not the world we live in, unfortunately.

    • Lots of things will never happen in this country without a world war. It's the only chance to bring back rail, for example. There's also a lot of towns which weren't [freeway] bypassed decades ago when it would have been affordable due to a combination of worrying that the town would dry up and blow away (if that happens, it's because the town fucking sucks, every single time) and being unwilling to use eminent domain. And the irony is, eminent domain used to be feasible back then, you could actually do it.

  • Perhaps now (Score:3)

    by liqu1d ( 4349325 ) on Friday March 20, 2026 @05:14PM (#66051946)
    We will move fast to roll out new renewables. Ignoring the political shitshow it just shows even more we need to see the end of oil and gas. We won't but we should.
    • Why would you think this is a solution that could be implemented right now, contrary to all dead simple to observe facts and logic?

      I understand that emotionally you want this to be the answer. But being overtly emotional is exactly how we ended up here, with magas electing trump.
  • Drive more slowly?
    Better tell the folks from (to start with):
    California
    Illinois
    Texas


    These folks think that every road in the country is the Autobahn and can drive at unlimited speeds.

    • Clearly you've never been to Utah, Montana or Idaho. Long stretches of nothing and the legal posted limits are 80, so of course people will push that to 90.

    • Diving more slowly does not work necessarily. Both my gas vehicles get the best gas mileage between 40 and 50 mph. Going slower than 40 increases it rather significantly, which is aggravating when speeds are lowered at least in part due to “better fuel mileage”. My EV gets its best mileage between 20 and 35mph, quite a bit slower.
  • So they can bomb Iran and try to steal some of their oil while allowing Trump to soak up big fat bribes from israel, Qatar and Saudi Arabia is extraordinarily disingenuous when the same billionaires took away work from home so they could maintain the property values on their commercial real estate.

    Donald Trump still has a 40% approval rating and all I can think of is who the fuck approves of Donald Trump? Like I get the quarter of the country that would do anything for the Republican party but for every

    • Look on the bright side, at least they didn't say "cut out the avocado toast."

      At the end of the day, expensive gas is just something most Americans will just complain about and then just deal with it. There has been the option to buy more efficient vehicles for quite awhile now, and yet the best selling models are still ginormous gas guzzlers. Hell, even my younger brother just did that right before the war started - he bought a used Volvo SUV with a giant V8. I told him to get a Chevy Bolt before the ta

      • This. Even though it affects me as well, I personally don't care if the gas price goes up to $10. The idiots deserve to suffer and that's a surefire way to see it happen. It would be especially nice if we could some how keep diesel down but let unleaded go up.

        Of course, I drive a hybrid, plan my route and don't tend to make extra trips to the store when it can just wait until tomorrow before or after work. As you mentioned, people have had DECADES!!! to buy more efficient vehicles and they decide to buy gin

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ukoda ( 537183 )

        At the end of the day, expensive gas is just something most Americans will just complain about and then just deal with it.

        Meanwhile the rest if the world pays the price for the wholly predictable actions of Americans ...

    • It wasn't just to maintain value for their corporate properties, it's because they love seeing people in the office, doing their bidding. They'd be able to save so much on capital expenditure if everyone worked from home, but they keep people in the office because they looooooove to see who they're oppressing.

  • Once this war is over, not only will oil & gas traffic resume: Iranian oil too will be back on the markets. At which point, it'll be like it was at the end of Covid

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ukoda ( 537183 )
      So the bombing of oil facilities has no impact on their future production? I heard a figure of 5 years to repair the current damage the LNG storage. That does not include the delays from future damage.

      • So the bombing of oil facilities has no impact on their future production? I heard a figure of 5 years to repair the current damage the LNG storage. That does not include the delays from future damage.

        This isn’t ending anytime soon, everyone is going scorched earth, and nuclear war is looking like a possible outcome. The strategic oil reserves should last at least a few weeks. How long does it take to rebuild the entire Middle East oil infrastructure?

  • It will likely be "Work at the office or be terminated for cause". If the market was the other way around, then it energy shortage would have the desired effect, but that's not the market dynamic at this point.

    Now, if the energy shortage persists, then an employee's market would turn to an employer's market due to a recession caused by the high price of energy.

    I'm thinking that a recession due to energy costs is coming. Once it does, and we get though the other side, maybe electric vehicles and solar panels

  • I'm actually a bit confused as to why this is blowing up the way it is. 20 percent of oil and LNG are frozen because of Hormuz. That's not good, but coal, nuclear and renewables are basically unaffected. Seems like a problem of this magnitude shouldn't be causing the entire world to have a collective aneurism.

    Gas prices go up a tad. People drive slightly less. Industrial chemicals get slightly pricier. People telecommute a bit more. None of this is good (except the telecommuting) but it shouldn't be gri

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dskoll ( 99328 )

      The problem is that most of that oil was destined for a few countries, mostly in Asia. So when they can't get their oil, they offer higher prices for oil from elsewhere. And of course, that raises the price for everyone because oil producers are going to sell to the highest bidder.

      Another problem is that about one-third of the world's agricultural fertilizer passes through the strait. That's going to cause enormous food production problems and make food prices spike even higher than they would have if t

    • 1. Fertilizer is made from methane, so that's also stuck there. This is a HUGE problem for countries like India.
      2. Poor countries are already switching to 4 day work weeks to save fuel.
      3. Iran is letting ships whose balances are settled in Yuan leave. That means the power of the petro-dollar is under serious threat.
      4. Countries that can no longer get Iranian oil are now buying non-Iranian oil, which drives the price of ALL oil up. There's speculation that it will hit $200/barrel. That's more than 3x what it

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      20% of the world's supply of the stuff most transportation runs on is a rather big deal.

      20% of the world's supply of the stuff we use to grow food is also a rather big deal, but that one won't bite for a bit.

  • Why do employers and bosses demanding return to office hate America so much?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hwstar ( 35834 )

      Because they can. The employees cost of energy doesn't confront them. They know the voters won't elect someone who will put teeth in the labor laws, because the voters will never see a candidate who will take on that challenge. It would be political suicide, because the monied interests would open the floodgates on the money for attack ads.

  • How attractive do you think your gas-guzzling SUVs and "light trucks" are going to be with the era of $5/gallon gas approaching?

  • Federal workers (Score:3)

    by Patent Lover ( 779809 ) on Friday March 20, 2026 @07:40PM (#66052328)
    Federal workers who weren't fucked over by DOGE aren't allowed to work from home due to a certain dumbfuck's executive order. That'll own the libs!!

  • Americans are predisposed to use energy wastefully. They aren't alone, of course, but when national symbols include huge homes and big trucks, and their president hates windmills, non-incandescent bulbs, and low flow toilets and showers, their collective behaviour won't change until a plea to conserve comes with financial pain and an honest-to-goodness shortage.

    Watch how a populace fields a request to not water lawns in a drought region to see how they move.

  • I have solar panels and drive an EV. I don't really care what happens to the price of oil. When winter comes I'll care about the price of natural gas (haven't replaced the gas furnace with a heat pump; I'll definitely do that when the furnace reaches EOL), but that that hasn't gone up much.

    I highly recommend this strategy.

    • I highly recommend this strategy.

      It gets extremely cold where I live, and in ground heat pumps while expensive are a better option than air based exchangers especially in my case. Problem is that an “environmental group” the watershed district, creates extreme red tape and you cannot get permitting for installation because it’s too close to “wetland”. You can file for an exemption which can take months with no guarantee at success. I’d have considered the 20k+ cost, plus 10k for ripping out ceilings a

  • "Get back to the office! the Antichrist is coming!" - Peter Somebody

  • Ok, shut down data centers and AI farms first. Then I'll consider it.

    • The AI data centers mostly run on natural gas burned in on-site turbines, this could hasten the AI bubble popping.

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