Practical responses to peak oil

For those who came in late, it is increasingly clear that global oil reserves are reaching the point where half has been used up, called “peak oil”. After this point supply will no longer meet demand, and prices will rise increasingly steeply until oil becomes inaccessible.

We don’t really know how this will play out in the complex modern world because we have never faced anything like this before. The markets may give a real indication of the change by steadily rising prices, there may be a ratchet effect with an overall rise but regular short decreases in price (as already seems to be happening), or there may be sudden rises and falls until the price becomes meaninglessly high.
Or the more powerful states might step in to ensure supplies and obviate markets altogether. Some observers claim that Iraq was the first of the “energy wars” as the great powers fight over what is left and try to exploit the situation to maintain or increase their power.

Anyway, it looks like we are in the last days of cheap oil, and after that, given how much we rely on the stuff for transport, everything will change. Whether this change is actually a benevolent one, a tolerable one, an unpleasant one, or a catastrophic one really depends on how quickly the public and our governments wake up to it and take action. We need to both conserve what is left and develop alternatives, fast.

Most of our oil use and much of greenhouse gas emissions come from road transport. Commercial road usage certainly needs review, but the easiest and most effective changes would occur in general motoring.

To this end, there are two simple things governments should do immediately: the first is to cut speed limits; the second is to get unnecessary, big, four-wheel-drive cars (4WDs) off the roads.

On Line Opinion