[Graeme]

Peak Oil and the 21st Century

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')s Stuart and Sean-Paul noted at the end there really are two ways to deal with peak oil - the peaceful technological and societal approach of conservation and changing how we use energy; and the violent approach of fighting over energy.

The problem is that other countries aren't so concerned with protecting their current billionaries and their sunk capital. Stuart mentioned that Silicon Valley is rife with energy startups these days, and perhaps they'll be able to retake the lead, but as of right now the leader in solar technology is Japan and the leader in wind technology is Europe - not the US. Japan and Europe don't like being dependent on oil imports and they don't care who it's making rich, they know that it's making them poor and vulnerable to foreigners.

Their public policy, in other words, is driven to at least some extent by what is good for the mass of people in their countries, rather than what is good for the rich. In the US, where government policy is quite literally mostly written by lobbyists; where government is bought and paid for by billionaires and multi-millionaires; where a House member has to raise a million dollars a year, the interest of the majority is of minor consequence.

As with organisms, societies that lose their adaptability, that refuse to change, eventually die or go into decline. How societies respond to peak oil is one of the determinants of which nations will be the best to live in, the most powerful, and the most likely to have their values spread, in the twenty-first century.

[Newsseeker]

Ummm.... react violently? It would be nice if the US acted for the majority of the citizens but I doubt it ever will....

[nth]

I disagree with them completely.
Advanced solar technology are in the US domain.
Advanced wind turbine technology are in the US domain.

The Japanese and European firms have licensed US technology to built their solar and wind products. Does that mean they have superior products than US? Well, US is behind in producing the end product, but the key pieces are all US inventions. Reminds of US consumer electronics: US invention, but Japanese perfection.

I am not sure we are at that point as far as solar and wind.

[seldom_seen]

Another in a long list of flawed articles with the premise that peak oil is a technology problem to be solved.

[TreebeardsUncle]

Well, PO will be the first formative event of the 21st century, the way WW1 was of the 20th.

G

[Twilight]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')eak oil is an opportunity as well as a crisis. It's an opportunity to make energy something that is produced by capital rather than a resource.

[CrudeAwakening]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Twilight', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')eak oil is an opportunity as well as a crisis. It's an opportunity to make energy something that is produced by capital rather than a resource.