by mefistofeles » Thu 16 Jul 2009, 22:00:51
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')r supply shortages. Even if there's oil, it wouldn't take much for Russia, Mexico and Venezuela or Iran (or all of the above) to tell us to buzz off and keep all their oil for domestic use. Probably good for us in the long run if they did. We'd be forced to switch to other sources of energy.
To me peak oil isn't so much about supply limitations as it is about growth and demand. Even if we can raise oil production demand will increases geometrically while supply can only increase arithmetically this is Malthus's Theory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_growth_modelAt some point demand growth will simply outstrip supply growth. What makes oil scarier than food is that our energy needs aren't set per person. Even the most obese person can only consume so much food. However even in developed countries such as the United States our appetite for energy increases on a per person level. We want ever larger LCD's bigger and faster cars.
The paradox is this that new supply and lower prices will only create more consumption. This is true up to a point with food,but at some point you're going to be full. There is no limit on the amount of energy we in the West can consume per person. This is called Jevon's Paradox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradoxThe situation in China is even worse they use 1/20 of the energy we use per capita in the first world. Even if they're energy consumption reaches 25% of ours per capita then we will have real problems.
Unless energy prices increase drastically energy is a non factor in most people's budgets? How many people actually have to worry about paying for fuel and electricity before they worry about paying for rent or mortgage. Yes they may worry about energy but usually in the context of dealing with some other expense. Energy bills are not driving people in financial ruin and aren't even a constraining factor on their behaviour.
In context of the fact that energy is ridiculously cheap energy prices really need to go up. Prices right now are simply unsustainably low and do not provide enough incentive to reduce consumption. Until prices go up substantially it's hard to see energy use no increasing.
Peak oil isn't about the world running out of oil, its about our greed and unlimited appetitie for energy when prices are low. At some point we're going to have a high speed "meeting with reality".