People driving their cars to the end of the oil age

Gasoline-powered cars are driving humanity to the end of the oil age, leaving electric vehicles as the best weapon against global warming.

This is the major conclusion in a dramatic international report written by a former Exxon insider and released Tuesday to Canwest News Service.
“Sometime during the year 2008, humanity will probably pass the point at which it collectively consumes 1,000 barrels of crude oil every second of every day. More than half of it – and the share continues to rise – is dedicated to the movement of goods, services and people,” said the analysis by physical chemist Dr. Gary Kendall, titled Plugged in: The End of the Oil Age. “Despite the pivotal role which oil is playing during the early years of the 21st century we are, without a doubt, entering the twilight of the Oil Age.”

Kendall, 34, is now a senior energy business and policy analyst at the World Wildlife Fund’s European office in Brussels, following a nine-year career in the oil industry. His analysis also warns that some alternatives, such as hydrogen or biofuels, including ethanol from agricultural crops, could do as much environmental damage as crude oil from conventional wells.

“It should be self-evident that the scale of the task is enormous, but the resulting benefits will be even greater, and that is surely the very definition of transformational change,” said Kendall in the 200-page report.

“We can choose to face up to this change, even embrace it, and stride purposefully towards an energy system which is clean, secure, and equitable. Or we might attempt to ignore it, eventually be overwhelmed by it, and suffer catastrophic consequences as a result of our collective lethargy.”

Canada.com