Monday, July 6, 2009

Peak Oil: What The?


So, I’ve always been aware that oil is not a renewable fuel - the same with coal and natural gas. So, in the back of my mind, I always knew that something had to be found to replace the finite resources that we’re using. That’s where wind power, wave power and solar power come in, isn’t it?

Well, this week, I had a wake up call. I lady I work with brought in a book for me that she had just finished. It’s called ‘Choosing Eden’ and it’s by an Australian called Adrienne Langman. I’m halfway through, and I’m already looking at the world differently. I’m thankful that I’ve been trying to achieve sustainability, because of climate change - now I’ve got another reason. Peak oil.

Peak oil is apparently a concept that is as old as my parents - it was first coined by someone working for Shell in 1956. And like Choosing Eden says, as soon as you find out about it, you need to know more. I’m in the process of learning more.

Most of us are aware that petrol prices have doubled in the last 6 years or so (unless you have a company car and petrol card, and then why should you notice?). Well, guess what: they are going to double again, and again ... and again. So we’ll have $3 per litre for petrol in maybe 3 to 6 years. Then $6 per litre in another 3 to 6 years. It will keep going up as demand increases and supply decreases.

Guess what happens when fuel prices go up? Good and every other consumer item goes up, because it costs more to transport things from A to B.

There’s more. Apparently, there’s 300,000 products that are made from crude oil. Look at all the plastic items around you - your computer, for starters. When crude oil runs out, or becomes too expensive to purchase, most people won’t be able to afford computers and the cheap electronic gadgets that we all can’t live without at the moment. Then think about the food packaging, the cosmetics, the household cleaning products, the building materials ... just about everything!

So, everything becomes too expensive. We have a huge recession. Most of us can’t afford anything. Money is not worth what it used to be. Perhaps travelling becomes too expensive for most people. Air travel collapses, because no one can afford it. Airlines go out of business. It’s too expensive to fill the car, because it costs $50 to buy bread, and train tickets have quadrupled. Then truck companies go broke, and food has to be conveyed around the country on rail. There’s so many trains needed to move food, that there’s no more room for trains moving people.

In the recession, it’s conceivable that more than 25% of the country is unemployed, because so many of the former services that were performed are no longer needed. People are just concerned with feeding their families. Whole shelves in the supermarkets are empty, because processed foods can no longer be made. People who have survived on processed foods, and can’t cook from scratch, will starve.

When people are starving, and their families are starving, it creates anarchy. And looting. And murder. Who wants to live anywhere near a major city when the suburbs completely collapse?

So, this is what’s running through my head whilst I’m reading about peak oil for the first time. And I’m thankful that I’ve moved to the country and am growing my own fruit and veggies.

This is a fairly extreme picture that I’ve just pasted ... or is it?

Check out:

http://www.onthecommons.org/content.php?id=2471

http://www.oilvoice.com

http://peakoil.blogspot.com

http://www.peakoilblues.com

http://anz.theoildrum.com

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