Massive amounts of timber would be clearcut for firewood when people could no longer afford heating oil, kerosene and propane. Coal stoves and boilers will make a comeback. Heated apartments will become a thing of the past.

Like a lot of other articles by laymen on the subject, the author ignores the ground he is standing on. People just don't get how our economy is literally floating on a sea of oil. At $10/gal, the economy should be in serious depression. I define economic depression as massive unemployment. During the Great Depression we had 25% unemployment and I think we'll top that. As people divert all their disposable income to energy, most of our economy should run aground. As that happens, these same people who are scrimping and saving to fill their tanks will find that their employer simply can't stay in business anymore due not only to increased energy costs, inflation, etc, but mainly because the customer base has dried up. Something like 75% of economic activity is based on consumer spending - do the math. It don't look pretty.

Yes, true. I put 10 ounces of gas in my Mantis Tiller and get lots of work down for it. I could pay $20 a gallon and it would still be good.

But for driving it is no good. To go kayaking 2 hours away @ $20 a gallon would cost me $170 round trip.

Basically just to live, go to the store, a a few local trips, be unemployed and do next to nothing would cost $250 a week @ $20 a gallon. Now to go to work...that is something else.

The main problem is we have built our society on steroids. We have built an artificial, non sustainable model for our world. There is not much alternative either way when it comes to billions of people.

Do we make gargantuan hell hole cities and pile every one in these concrete high rise monsters? Or spread the people out and use some fuel to cart em around?

Either way we are sunk...too many people.

That would be bad. How would cities and counties and states work with $10 gas? Just looking at the city here, they have hundreds of vehicles (gas guzzling i'm sure) to operate daily. The county has all their trucks and what not. Companies (power/cable/phone/etc) have boatloads of trucks/cars/etc to operate daily. Now how do you think that would effect them? Costs would skyrockets for one. Next would be job cuts. Tax increases! Now the newly unemployed have no money on top of the fact that everything just doubled/tripled in price. The $5 footlong starts costing $10. That 44 cent can of beans costs $1, etc.

We're fucked. Mass unemployment/increased crime/higher suicide rates is on its way. I was just expressing some of my views to a police officer the other day and he tended to agree. Too bad he may be patrolling on foot, because the cruiser is on E!

This $135 oil will take a couple of months to really work through the system the way it is. I'm guessing a nice round of price spikes in a couple months.

Or folks will start layering up with sleeping bags at night. I own 6 sleeping bags and 3 body socks. I could accomidate 4 people in 10 degrees. Been there done that.

Much more energy efficient to layer than than chop wood. I think we will see a jump in the sales of Coleman bags next winter.

On the flip side, Texas gets hot in the summer. For that I have 3 nylon hammocks. Nylon Brazilian hammocks good for 80 degree temps.

There isn't all that much timber to cut even here in the most forested state in the nation. The price of firewood is going up too! I just saw a truck filled with 5" diameter wood, so maybe you're right.

The price of pulp and biomass are both way up lately, so we'll have to compete with them too.

We have 2 new pellet plants being built here in Maine. It should be interesting. I am thinking of getting a pellet heater next year.

I don't think much will change at $10/gallon. Only the SUV's will be gone. 22 countries in Europe are now paying $8-$11/gallon and they're not in the streets complaining...

Kinda like the way a swarm of locusts swoops in and destroys a field of crops you could say.

The age of the human locust is coming soon. Either that or thin the herd the correct way.

Yes, but Europe's food distribution and transportation systems were never predicated on an infinite supply of cheap oil

Nope, only cheap and infinite natural gas. Well for food and heating anyways.

There are a number of factors that drove Europe towards rail infrastructure and the US away. I don't honestly believe it was all foresight and good planning on the part of their leadership. And those trains aren't all running on electric.

Regarding Olekiri's comment - you're kidding right? You didn't follow the trucking strikes in the UK did you? Fishing industry strikes in France because of fuel prices? And I seem to recall some issues in Italy recently as well. So yes, they are in the streets complaining.

I'm tired of hearing "everything is fine they are already paying $X in Europe" - Its apples and oranges. If there were no alternatives to transport there then they'd be in a world of hurt at $11. Just as the US will most certainly be. Europe uses less PER CAPITA oil than the US but MORE total oil. They are going to be hurting too at $160/barrel.

-G

Some of our lower income heating oil, kerosene and propane customers are turning down thermostats, heating fewer rooms and wearing warmer clothes. That's also why we've had a record amount of frozen, burst or cracked water pipes, boiler blocks, and hydronic boiler piping during cold snaps of sub-zero temperatures. Many people that use alternative or supplemental heat face the same issues when they no longer use the heating system in the basement or crawlspace that was preventing their pipes from freezing.



People are hoarding pellet fuel, Bio-Bricks, Envi-Blocks and firewood. I bought all the rice coal that two suppliers had in stock, plus I ordered more.



I might have to hire security to prevent firewood thieves from cutting down my timber.

. . . and the BBC! Chris Skrebowski was just interviewed on Radio 4 PM programme and put it very well - Peak at 2011 or 2013. Eddie Mair, the interviewer, sounded pretty stunned at those dates, but as usual there was no follow up, no in depth analysis of what was just said, just move on to the next item!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainfram ... dio4.shtml

I think there is something going left unsaid when we bring up Europe in comparison to the United States regarding the price of fuel. The European's price includes lots of taxes. Those taxes are an injection into their economies. Since that injection is channeled into what ordinary people use, be it public transport or health care, it actually helps make life more possible under intense economic pressures, well to a point. The US is completely different as the economic structures that higher taxes could help sustain don't even exist in a viable enough form to do the average US citizen any good. I suppose they could raise taxes and try to use the money to build high speed rail and such, but it is harder from behind the eight ball. Also the geography works against the US, there is a lot of ground to cover with transport projects. Having ridden the TGV I have to say it could be done, but I also am familiar with the average American attitude so who knows?

I was driving home from work this afternoon up the 6 lane M1 motorway (Thurs May 22) tuned into the BBC R4 news (the most influential radio news station in the UK by a mile - UK politicians are addicted to it).

The lead story at 5pm (peak listening time) was an in depth discussion about peak oil and the record $135 pb oil price. There was a energy industry expert interviewed (I didn't catch his name) who said that we are at peak light sweet, and that heavier grades would peak circa 2011-2013, and that absolute drops in output would occur at some point not to long later. For mainstream news it was pretty apocalyptic stuff. It stated that prices would never drop to previous levels. Peak Oil is unequivocally mainstream in the UK.
I think a podcast may be available at BBC R4 website but may be UK only. Or maybe the link in the top right of this BBC website page.

As I listened two 2007 Range Rover Sport SUVs cruised past - I wonder if they were listening to, and if they thought their new motors were the smart choice now?

What was most remarkable about this feature was that they had nobody speak against it.

This is the BBC which famously shows both sides of every argument, and which only recently stopped bringing on climate-change deniers.