My PV array allows me to avoid buying any of the expensive afternoon power, so the payback time is reduced in proportion to the pricing ratio in the power rates.

FORBES: How Much Electricity Are You Paying For To Maintain Your Chevy Volt?

Even America is thinking again: in 20-odd states that require utilities to generate a proportion of their power from renewable sources, waste-to-energy plants count towards the goal.

ECONOMIST: The waste business smells of money

They also consider the tools that minority investors have at their disposal in each country to check majorities' power, such as the ease of electing directors and the proportion of votes needed to call a special shareholders meeting.

ECONOMIST: Protection money

"Ingredient costs have undergone significant increases in the last six months and some businesses are struggling to pass those increases on because spending power of the average household hasn't increased by the same proportion, " she told BBC News.

BBC: Cornish pasty makers fear potato price may raise costs

If the proportion of imported pipeline gas falls, so does the pricing power of conventional suppliers, even if the overall volume they supply goes up.

ECONOMIST: Shale gas should make the world a cleaner, safer place

Another news story that was blown out of proportion was the notional value of credit default swaps and the power of those swaps to keep the stock market headed downward, during the recent bear market.

FORBES: Shocking Truth: Newsworthiness Bias Crushes Women and Children

Eventually he believes wave power could supply 20% of the UK's energy needs, the same proportion currently supplied by nuclear.

BBC: Pelamis consists of four 40 metre steel tubes

And there are some high-powered issues to chew over - the balance of power between the Commons and the new Senate (or whatever it is to be called), the proportion to be elected or appointed, the presence of the Church of England bishops (excluding them would come close to disestablishment of the state church, so antidisestablishmentarianism may become a factor) and much, much more.

BBC: Lords reform looks set to snarl up the Commons