The US military has warned that surplus oil production capacity could disappear within two years and there could be serious shortages by 2015 with a significant economic and political impact. The energy crisis outlined in a Joint Operating Environment report from the US Joint Forces Command, comes as the price of petrol in Britain reaches record levels and the cost of crude is predicted to soon top $100 a barrel.http://www.jeffrubinssmallerworld.com/2010/03/31/new-price-peak-by-next-year/
"By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day," says the report, which has a foreword by a senior commander, General James N Mattis.
Does anyone still believe the reassuring forecasts from discredited feel-good organizations like the International Energy Agency about new sources of cheap supply, like those that once flowed from places like Prudhoe Bay in Alaska or the North Sea? If so, where is that supply of new affordable oil coming from? Surely not from tar sands or from ultra-deep water fields six miles below the ocean’s floor. By the fourth quarter of this year, oil prices will be back in triple-digit range, and by next year oil prices will rise to record highs, taking out the high-water mark of $147 per barrel that was set back before the recession began in 2008.Shouldn't we be using the cheap energy aka oil remaining to build a more sustainable way of life? Obviously, cheap oil isn't going to last forever: why not use what we've got left to create light rapid transit, local food supplies, alternate sources of electricity, and a happier way of life?
Moreover, we'd be working to solve the problem of climate change instead of playing of "Last One Standing." Why live in denial until disaster strikes?
No comments:
Post a Comment