The IEA Greenhouse gas R&D programme is formed under an agreement framed by the International Energy Agency in Paris. There are nearly 40 such agreements, which used to be called Implementing Agreements. The term Implementing Agreement caused a lot of confusion and what it stood for was difficult to communicate especially to non-native English speakers. So the IEA in its wisdom changed the name of these agreements to Technology Collaboration partnerships, or TCPs for short. At the second gathering of all TCPs held this week in Paris, there was universal approval for the renaming.
So, we are the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme TCP, and what a Technology Collaboration Programme does is easy to communicate to prospective members. So progress has been made.
However, when I think of TCP I recall vividly from my youth that it was a particularly smelly antiseptic that was dosed liberally by both parents on my scratches and bruises. I was also required to gargle the liquid version for a sore throat. Not pleasant I can assure you.
I also note that when you goggle TCP, it tells me that TCP or Transmission Control Protocol is a standard that defines how to establish and maintain a network conversation via which application programs can exchange data. TCP works with the Internet Protocol (IP), which defines how computers send packets of data to each other.
So there you have it TCP is either the abbreviation for:
- A Technology Collaboration Programme
- A Transmission Control Protocol
- Trichlorophenylmethyliodosalicyl
So, let's hope the next person that asks me to tell what a TCP is/was never a computer programmer or was from a region that TCP was never exported to.
