Our hopes as Barack Obama takes office

As the world waits with baited breath - there has been a little brain storming in the EcoSearch office today...

Photo by dcJohn

Debby Lloyd
I'm hopeful that the USA positioning will change. Look at the Scots and how they see their in-country resources ... they could easily close the borders when the lights go out elsewhere in the country and their energy supply will be secure. If the USA invests in the natural resources available in their own country it equals less of a reliance on Oil and perhaps they will no longer have to be so aggressive around the protection of Oil resources (some may say flimsy excuses for entry into countries that have oil resources). So I hope the emphasis moves to one of "in country self sufficiency on energy supply". Let's phrase it ... Mobilised in a more positive way they can achieve and lead the world. Perhaps in a more positive way than they are seen by the rest of the world today. Good luck Obama, yes you can is my opinion.

Steven Rogers
I was pleased to see the news on Thursday that the US Senate will allow Obama to sign a UN pact to fight global warming late in '09, even if US climate laws are not in place by then.

Mark Sawyer
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has turned down the request to regulate carbon by the most populous state. Obama, however, can direct the agency to reverse course.

Clare Buxton
Obama will double wind power capacity in the next three years, which will mean continued growth in the US onshore market for wind turbine manufacturers, but will that mean that the European offshore market will lose out? Will the Turbine Manufacturers have the same incentive to develop new offshore technologies?

Katharine Robinson
I was impressed by how Obama has approached communication with the public during his campaign by using new media and embracing tools like Facebook and Twitter. I think his attitude has pushed many others to embrace new ways of communicating. I was pleased this week to notice some British MPs using these tools too – Our leaders need to be brought into the 21^st century and encouraged to use the communication tools that have become mainstream in the last five years. I hope that as President we see more of this from Barack Obama.

You can follow the inauguration tomorrow on the BBC News website, with live text updates from 1500 GMT and streaming video from 1600 GMT.