The government's monopoly of the energy industry is depriving Thailand of urgently needed innovation at this critical time of world energy uncertainty, leading economists said.

"The energy industry is becoming similar to the telecommunication sector in that it needs to move forward with the fast changing technology, investment and dynamism. But the Thai power sector is moving in the opposite direction," said Dr Duenden Nikomborirak, a chief economist from Thailand Development Research Institute.

The Thai power sector saw a regressive trend in the past decade when it comes to competition and dispersal of ownership, added the economist. The concentration index is higher now than the past 10 years, she said.

Last week quite a bit of criticism fell on a government plan to accelerate the introduction of 85-per-cent ethanol fuel to petrol stations countrywide.

Leading auto-makers were frustrated, saying the tax incentives offered were much too weak to encourage them to ramp up production of cars that can run on E85.

Without such cars, where would the ethanol-fuel demand come from?

It is the unwillingness of the government to address the lack of demand for ethanol that would impede a shift by consumers to embrace it, said critics

Picking up local newspapers over the past few weeks, every day I find reports on rapid hikes in food prices.

But on the very same pages I also find pictures and stories of protesting farmers, complaining about low prices for their produce. What's going on here?

Veteran agri-businessman Paichayon Uathaveekul had the explanation all laid out at a recent discussion at Thammasat University. At first it sounded like a familiar story of greedy middlemen taking advantage of poor farmers. But then his insights left an average consumer like me astounded.

Just like Hurricane Katrina three years ago, it was not long after Cyclone Nargis struck the Irrawaddi Delta that headlines emerged questioning the role of climate change in delivering the devastation.

But the fact is, says noted Thai climate scientist Dr Anond Sanidvongs, climate science does not have much to say about such individual storm events. Climate modeling can only help us better understand how a warmer climate may influence the likelihood such storms may occur. 

So what is that likelihood?

One of the world’s leading communications’ consultants, Havas Media, announced in what they assert is the largest consumer study of its kind, that,“[Consumers in] Brazil, China and India are among those who claim to be most alarmed by climate change, while respondents in the US, UK and Germany demonstrate far lower levels of concern. Likewise, consumers in China, Brazil, Mexico and India would be significantly more willing than their North American, British and German counterparts to spend extra on environmentally-friendly products.”