Energy4me Website Makes Energy Facts Easy To Find

DeAnn Craig, Energy Information Committee Chairperson

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles by members of SPE’s Energy Information Committee. Send comments about this article to energyed@energy4me.org.

Have you ever tried to write a speech on energy or help your children write a paper on energy? Then you know how difficult it is to wade through all the different websites that result from your Google search. You also probably have noticed that some websites have information that is technically wrong and others present information that is blatantly biased. To help you, our SPE members, and the public at large, SPE offers a new resource about energy at www.energy4me.org. The goal is to provide one stop for comprehensive, balanced, and factual information on all things related to energy.

Energy4me.org brings together in one site all of the energy education and career information that had been dispersed throughout www.spe.org, along with the basics on oil and natural gas, including the technology used in our industry. In addition, Energy4me has energy lesson plans for teachers, games for kids, and interactive energy presentations.

Our goal was to make the facts easy to find. We believe that SPE has a special credibility as an information source for energy education. After all, our mission is technical knowledge exchange for the public benefit, and our organization is made up of engineers, scientists, university professors, and other technical experts who are involved in every aspect of the upstream industry, as well as in research into new technologies and alternate energy sources. SPE’s activities are nonpolitical and noncommercial.

In this time of great public concern about climate change and the environmental impact of oil and gas operations, www.energy4me.org has added more information showing what the E&P industry is doing to minimize its footprint and to protect the environment. There is information about energy sustainability and global climate change, plus facts about oil spills and how our industry protects the environment during drilling.

To provide a complete picture on energy sources, energy4me.org offers new sections on alternate energy sources. We want consumers to understand how oil and gas contribute to the quality of their everyday lives, and to be able to knowledgeably compare the advantages and disadvantages of all the energy sources they are hearing about in the news media. The fact is that hydrocarbons will be the predominant fuels for many years because there is no ready replacement that offers the energy value that petroleum does, especially for transportation. We challenge visitors to the site to “know their energy source” by asking the right questions to find out which energy source does the job. A chart is available that lays out the pros and cons of each energy source.

Special sections highlight activities for kids and provide resources for teachers to use in preparing lessons on energy. The activities are divided by age group, and several are tied to the Know Your Energy Source chart.

Members can also find ready-to-go presentations for elementary and secondary students, as well as a talk on oil and gas industry myths for civic groups. If you make a presentation, let us know! SPE will send speakers a lapel pin for making one presentation, and an updated lapel pin recognizing members who make 5, 10, or 15 presentations. There is a form in the Speaker Resources section of www.energy4me.org that you can use to notify SPE when you make a presentation.

Although the initial launch of the www.energy4me.org website was planned by the Energy Information Committee, we want you, the SPE members, to feel like this is your website. We encourage you to send us materials that can be added to the Speaker Resources section and to suggest improvements to the site. We know that frequent updates are essential to keep the site fresh and valuable to the users. Send your content contributions or suggestions to energyed@energy4me.org.

Please visit SPE’s new energy information website. We hope you will be inspired to make a talk using the resources there. Tell students, teachers, neighbors, and your own family how they can connect to a world of energy through www.energy4me.org.

Northern Asia Pacific Regional Director Nominated

The SPE Board of Directors has approved the nomination of Mohd Jukris Abdul Wahab to stand for election as the new Northern Asia Pacific Regional Director. Wahab is a Senior General Manager of Petroleum Resource Development in the Petroleum Management Unit of Petronas. Wahab has held a variety of positions during his 17 years with Petronas, including reservoir engineer, where he was involved in the first Petronas-owned oilfield development in offshore Malaysia. He also led the field-surveillance teams that managed producing fields in offshore East Malaysia, and he has served as the Executive Assistant to the President of Petronas.

Wahab has served on several SPE committees; he is former Program Chairperson of the SPE Sarawak Section, and he co-chaired an SPE Young Professionals Workshop.

The nominee will stand as elected unless SPE members nominate additional candidates by 1 October and petition for a ballot election. Additional nominations require a petition from at least 1% of the region membership with no more than 75% of the petitioners from any one section. The SPE Constitution specifies provisions for a ballot election if any qualified petitions are received.

The SPE Northeast India Section was inaugurated on 17 May by R.S. Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC, India. During the inauguration, R.K. Vij, Secretary, SPE Northeast India Section, spoke of SPE’s history and its scope of activities. Pictured here are officers of the new section.