Peak oil can fuel a change for the better

[Javaman]

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/peak-oil-can-fuel-a-change-for-the-better-20120110-1psqg.html

The advent of peak oil means we should prepare for a downscaling of our highly energy and resource-intensive lifestyles.

What is peak oil and why does it matter? And what effect will it have on the Western lifestyles we take for granted? These are not questions that many people are asking themselves yet, but this decade is going to change everything. Peak oil is upon us.

Peak oil does not mean that the world is about it run out of oil. It refers to the point at which the supply of oil can no longer increase. There is lots of the stuff left; it's just getting much more difficult to find and extract, which means it is getting very hard, and perhaps impossible, to increase the overall ''flow'' of oil out of the ground. When the flow can no longer increase, that is peak oil. Supply will then plateau for a time and eventually enter terminal decline. This is the future that awaits us, because oil is a finite, non-renewable resource.

The prospect of peak oil is no longer a ''fringe'' theory held only by a few scaremongers. It is a geological reality that has been acknowledged even by conservative, mainstream institutions such as the International Energy Agency, the UK Industry Task Force and the United States military. Even the chief executive of one of the world's largest oil companies, Total, said recently he expected demand to outstrip supply as early as 2014 or 2015. Given how fundamental oil is to our economies, this signifies the dawn of a new era in the human story.

More at link...

[jwirr]

1. This is what I was asking in my question below. Instead of being the bad guys in this scene the

energy companies should stop obstructing the turn to alternative energies and work for the people instead of trying to keep a non-sustainable economy going.

[4dsc]

2. Alternatives cannot replace oil

Sorry to burst your bubble here but there is not replacement for oil. No so called alternative will ever replace the billions of barrels of oil that will be lost to declining production around the world. It simply cannot happen.

[jwirr]

3. I did not say they can replace oil. I said that the oil (and other energy companies) could help us

get more alternatives going so that when the oil is too expensive we will be able to change our lifestyle to adjust.

In the article they talk about doing this BEFORE we are forced to make the change will be much easier than waiting until it is damn near too late.

And I think we make a big mistake when we are just thinking about oil. Gas and coal are also finite. But we will not do anything about changing our lifestyle until we are forced. I have no faith in the idea that we actually think that any of this is going to happen. Like climate change is not happening either. Sarcasm.

[4dsc]

4. Conservation is the biggest oil field in the world

So called alternative are dependent upon oil in every aspect of their existence. Without oil, alternative don't exist. Not to mention every alternative has a shelf life. So for every wind tower you put up today, it will have to be replaced in 20-30 years.

And while you are correct on your finite reasoning of these resources, too many people, like many here at the DU, are in denial about their future that will include less oil, a lot less oil.

[jwirr]

5. I was born in 1941 in a very rural area. We did not have electricity, farmed with horses, and my

grandfather pumped water with a windmill. food was canned, preserved and stored in the root cellar, we made most of our own clothes, and provided our own entertainment. The extended family worked together to provide us with a good living. We did have a car so that was a modern appliance that used oil. However, my father used a horse/buggy to get around much of his life. Yes, that world was still based on oil but did not have to be. This is the world I see as an example of what we can have. It was not a bad world. Unfortunately most of us do not live in rural areas anymore. This is not as possible in an urban setting.

I am not expecting things to be easy but if the energy companies would even just tell people the truth they would be helping. I just love all those commercials on tv that tell us how much they have done for us today and how we are not running out of oil (I know cheap oil but they do not say that) so it is all okay. They could also be honest about the risks of deep oil drilling and fracking.

I happen to be a fan of Kunstler and realize more than most that this whole damn world is oil based and what that means. But I also, like Kunstler, refuse to be a dooms dayer. I will not give up and I am helping my children and their children to see that there are things that can be done.