COE prices for big and small cars plunge over 50%

Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices for cars in the A and B categories have fallen over 50 percent for the month of February. COEs for cars less than 1600 cc (Category A) dropped by S$6,289 to S$5,200, while those for cars more than 1600 cc (Category B) now cost S$6,002, down by S$6,150.

Some car dealers attributed the drop in COE prices to the upcoming Lunar New Year. They said the new-year rush for new cars is over, and those who had planned on a new set of wheels have already secured them before the bidding exercise. Car dealers expect COE prices to stabilise or even rise after the Lunar New Year.

- Big news in Singapore that many people, including my colleagues, have been talking about. Actual car prices didn't go down that much. The car sellers probably expect a rebound.

The COE renewal price did not move much though, it's still somewhat north of $10K. That's because it's an average of COE prices over the past 3 months. Stock traders might call it a 90dma (90-day moving-average).

A colleague asked me why. I said that either gov.sg has printed a lot more COE's, or the economy is going to crash. Or, there could be policy changes in the next Budget that make car ownership cheaper while making operating them more expensive - like raising road taxes, or ERP rates, or petrol taxes. Shrug.

(2007-02-14 20:02:34 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

New York town may have hit snow record

chron.com :

The lake-effect squalls that have buried parts of upstate New York in nearly 12 feet [3.6m] of snow finally ended Monday, leaving road crews with the task of clearing snow piled as high as street signs.

Redfield received 11 feet, 9 inches of snow. The area receives an annual average of more than 22 feet. The town of Parish received 10 feet, while nearly 9 feet fell in the communities of Mexico and Osceola.

- Interesting weather. No snow in Tokyo, too much snow in New York.

Tokyo sets snowless record

peakoil.com -> news.yahoo.com :

Tokyo has set a record for its longest snowless winter amid growing worldwide concerns about global warming, according to meteorologists. The metropolitan area of the capital has not had snow this season, making it the longest snowless winter since statistics were first kept in 1876, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The previous record was set in 1960 when the season's first snowfall was observed on February 10.

Earlier this month a UN report blamed human activities for global warming and predicted a rise in typhoons, droughts and other natural disasters. The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that temperatures could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Celsius by 2100.

(2007-02-14 19:47:57 SGT) [Env] Permalink

Shell commercial: No easy oil any more

energybulletin.net -> youtube.com :

Because there's no easy oil any more
people like Jepp spend every day inventing new technologies
like the snake well
to get the oil that was previously impossible to get

Jepp van Balahouyen works for Shell

(2007-02-14 08:33:53 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Exxon Mobil has no more doubts on warming

chron.com :

Big Oil behemoth Exxon Mobil Corp. has dropped any pretense of questioning whether global warming is real. Now the company is seeking to position itself as an active player in efforts to lower greenhouse gases. "The appropriate debate isn't on whether climate is changing, but rather should be on what we should be doing about it," Kenneth Cohen, Exxon's vice president of public affairs, told reporters on a conference call.

The call came less than a week after an international panel of hundreds of scientists said new research showed global warming was "unequivocal" and that human activity was primarily responsible for the most significant factor in temperature change - greenhouse gases. "Climate is changing. It's a serious issue. The evidence is there," Cohen said on the call, which was arranged in part to allow Exxon to state its position on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report.

Cohen's statements appeared to be the most definitive yet in the company's effort to show Exxon cares about climate change and wants to do something about it. It's a far cry from former CEO Lee Raymond's rigid stance on the issue in the late 1990s, when he questioned science that linked fossil fuels to global warming. Upon succeeding Raymond as CEO last year, Rex Tillerson labeled climate change a serious issue. He later said the company needed to soften its public image and better explain its stance on global warming.

(2007-02-14 08:23:12 SGT) [Env] Permalink

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