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Page added on April 1, 2015
Peak Oil: A Day Early Is Better
Shortsighted as a strategy is … well, shortsighted. Too bad that’s not the worst that can be said about it. Good to know that in my unexpectedly long absence away from posting that not much has changed, price drops and production numbers notwithstanding….
Fossil fuel and utility interests, concerned about the rise of cheap clean energy, are financing attacks on pro-clean energy policies, in an effort to delay the growth of a market competitor….
[S]pecial interests tied to the fossil fuel and utility industries are spreading disinformation about the cost of clean energy. The Koch Brothers and their allies want to continue selling as much coal, oil, and gas as possible — and in their effort to rollback clean energy policies, are spreading falsehoods about the energy market.
Shocking? Not so much.
That quote comes from a terrific report released last May by the Energy & Policy Institute entitled “Attacks on Renewable Energy Standards and Net Metering Policies By Fossil Fuel Interests & Front Groups 2013-2014.” It identifies those groups responsible for an ongoing disinformation campaign as part of their efforts dismantle existing or scuttle proposed clean energy legislation. Imagine that!
Shocking now? Not exactly. It’s all part of the same disingenuous, fact-free Happy Talk strategy employed [to our collective long-term detriment] “successfully” by those who understand the great benefit accruing to the few at the expense of the many by carefully-selecting appealing information shaped by a narrative where truths and full-disclosure are inconvenient intrusions. But postponing reality works only for so long, and ignoring facts which cast doubt on Happy Talk is not a consequence-free strategy.
The shale oil production boom has been a genuinely fantastic turn of events, but facts and evidence suggest limitations to the benefits—at least for those of us concerned about a future not measured exclusively in the short-term and the narrowly focused one.
The issues themselves don’t matter much. The tactics are the same ones applied regardless. Who cares about facts, the well-being of the public, or the future if profits are to be made today—especially if they benefit the few at the expense of the many? Fifth homes do not pay for themselves, you know….
After a while, one becomes almost numb to the ignorance and arrogance of those few who have decided that their interests today are the only ones to be acknowledged and catered to. Being insulated from the economic and personal harm endured by millions upon millions of fellow citizens is easy enough to do when (a) you are wealthy enough to support yourself and your family for any number of lifetimes, (b) don’t particularly care about anyone else, and (c) also don’t care how you get yours or who suffers in the process … as long as you get yours.
The key is not to become too numb to that obscene process, and realize we all still have a say in how our democracy works. Seems a bit daunting in the face of so many powerful and monied interests, but doable.
The reason to stay in the game is a simple one: while those integrity-free, self-serving few don’t give a rat’s ass about your future and your children’s well-being, you do. What these free-market, profits-at-all-and-any cost advocates care about is the bottom line, today. Bully for them.
But for the vast majority of us, reality is still the only set of conditions and facts we must actually deal with. Every effort to stifle the pursuit of paths away from dependence on finite, costlier-by-the-day-and-more-challenging-to acquire resources is one more day all of us are denied the opportunities and benefits clean/renewable energy projects will provide. Not a guarantee to be sure, and certainly not an assurance of trouble-free transitions away from fossil fuels, but reality nonetheless.
That matters because finite resources behave just as if they were finite. Shocking, yes, but true nonetheless!
So at some point, when the costs are simply too prohibitive; when the investments needed to keep on producing what’s left are deemed too risky; when we’re all clearly feeling the effects of not having what we need when we need it, how we need, and at a price we’re willing to accept, we won’t have any reasonable options to only then begin taking the necessary steps to transition away our lifestyles and economy from dependence on finite resources. That happens if we decide not to speak out, not to learn, not to recognize the self-serving and destructive consequences of those efforts by the few.
We have choices. They may not all be ideal, but sure as hell it’s better to speak out about these shadowy efforts now when we can have an impact and can start preparing ourselves and our children for a peaceful and prosperous future than to stay silent and ignorant of what’s being done at our expense.
Better a day early with those choices than a day late.
18 Comments on "Peak Oil: A Day Early Is Better"
rockman on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 6:20 am
IMHO low oil/NG prices will do more to inhibit alt development then any scheme the Koch bros et al might have in play. Just consider gasoline consumption: last Dec gasoline consumption increased at a rate more than 4X higher then the average fuel economy of the ENTIRE ROLLING vehicle fleet in the US for the ENTIRE 2014 year. Even the fuel saved by all the new higher mpg vehicles purchased during 2014 can’t offset the increased consumption due to lower prices.
Some unknown portion of the global effort to “go green” was actually motivated by saving money more then by saving the planet.
dolanbaker on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 7:25 am
“Some unknown portion of the global effort to “go green” was actually motivated by saving money more then by saving the planet.”
I would put that figure north of 95%, saving money on energy leaves you with more cash to buy stuff or do something.
eugene on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 7:57 am
On the Titanic, one passenger says to another “I’m not worried, someone will save us”.
Davy on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 8:18 am
We can say the same about the greenies as the brownies it is just the greenies lack money and bought off candidates the brownies have. Why do I say this about the greenies when I have green tendencies? Well, they are just as engaged in BAUtopian exceptionalism of knowledge, technology, and complexity. The exact things that got us into this mess and are digging the hole deeper.
AltE’s have no future post fossil fuels except in a salvage and a hybrid application to postmodern practices which are nothing more than pre-modern practices. Fossil Fuels will remain and function much the same in niche applications. Neither FF or AltE can run a post BAU world but they can be salvage for small scale applications. Entropic decay will render them increasingly useless as time progresses for lack of spare parts and the knowledge to employ and maintain them.
The whole fossil fuel complex that is remaining is vitally important for BAU to transition out of BAU if we can even manage that. I accept the AGW debate but I feel we are already cooked. I also feel far more people will die in the present with a collapse of BAU than AGW down the road. FF decline will initiate the population adjustments from a collapsing BAU. How bad the degree and duration of this collapse is dependent on today’s decisions. I say keep BAU going somewhat healthy into the crisis that is just around the corner. That means FF as much as AltE.
Crisis with some health is our only hope at this point. It will likely be a muddle through with adaptive actions to a collapsing BAU. The greenies fantasy is a vision of a shiny green and clean BAU to take over in all its glory. What is ahead couldn’t be further from that vision. What is ahead is chaos in the descent of complexity in all its ugly forms.
This guy is just as deluded complaining about the FF industry when his vision is just as suspect. Preaching and banking on AltE is preaching on the FF industry. AltE can never break out of the grips of FF nor self-replicate without FF. The reality of the situation is these wealthy legalized thieves like the Kocksters are time dependent meaning their days are very numbered. They may have a doomstead but their empires will dissolve quickly once BAU turns into a local post BAU.
Kenz300 on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 9:01 am
Quote — “Fossil fuel and utility interests, concerned about the rise of cheap clean energy, are financing attacks on pro-clean energy policies, in an effort to delay the growth of a market competitor….
[S]pecial interests tied to the fossil fuel and utility industries are spreading disinformation about the cost of clean energy. The Koch Brothers and their allies want to continue selling as much coal, oil, and gas as possible — and in their effort to rollback clean energy policies, are spreading falsehoods about the energy market.”
The fossil fuel industry, the Koch brothers and the top 1% will do all they can to slow the growth of alternative energy sources. The RepubliCON party and Faux Noise are coconspirators in this effort.
It is all about the money and profits….. the greed is good gang wants it all and they hope the gullible and uninformed will not realize that they are being conned for the benefit of someone else.
Revi on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 9:32 am
I find that solar and efficiency are amazing things for saving money and work very well.
People will figure that out whether or not the Koch brothers tell them not to.
Economically speaking, oil is almost dead anyway.
Time for a cool change!
shortonoil on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 10:29 am
We’ve noticed an explosion of disinformation attempts on the internet over the last year. In the process the quality of trolls seems to have gone down considerably. Even many of the old established misinformation sites seems to be employing debunkers that obviously flunked “Introduction to Trolling 101”. They appear to be hiring anyone with fingers that can punch a keyboard. The avalanche of bankruptcies in the fossil fuel energy sector we are expecting over the next few years is going to be the give away that that the “emperor has no cloths”.
Plantagenet on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 10:39 am
Rock is right. The rant scapegoating the Koch brothers for all the world’s problems comes from a D partisan campaign schemed up by Harry Reid. Consumers are going to decide what kind of energy to use based on (1) cost and (2) convenience.
Davy on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 11:18 am
Planter, I agree the Democratic party are poor hypocrites, yet, the Kocksters are still legalized criminals engaged in bad behaviors. They are among the worst exploiting the public for private profit. IMA, like the bastards don’t already have enough ill gotten gains.
Plantagenet on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 11:51 am
The only I see the Koch brothers actually doing something is their sponsorship of NOVA and other science shows on PBS TV. Oh…and funding science museums.
Gosh—how evil. The Koch Foundation sponsors NOVA on PBS. They support science. Wow. Be afraid. Nova be bad. Science be bad.
The facts are pretty clear that Harry Reid was looking for a boogeyman for the Ds to campaign against in 2012 and Harry Reid said, “Hey! Lets demonize the Koch Brothers!”
Apneaman on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 12:09 pm
Lil Planter, the reason David Koch sponsors NOVA is the same as all philanthropists with ill gotten gains do, so suckers like you will think they give a fuck. Not any different than some Roman aristocrat sponsoring the games. It’s inexpensive PR and social currency (not to mention a tax write off). Your actually cheering a guy who has spent hundred of millions buying political favor to help dismantle your Constitution. They are scum.
Plantagenet on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 12:24 pm
@ Lil Apnea
The Koch brothers are something like the 29th largest corporate entity giving money to politicians. Can you name the 28 who are more important? Can you name 5? Can you name 1?
Face facts—the only reason you know the name “Koch Brothers” and are obsessing over the Koch brothers is that Harry Reid and the Ds picked them to demonize.
I suggest you educate yourself about the US economy and political system and then form your own views rather than just being a tool of Harry Reid and the Ds.
Cheers!
Oh—and do something about that Apnea too. Apnea kills braincells. You don’t want to lose any more of those.
Davy on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 12:36 pm
Planter, Ape Man and I call stink “stink” when we smell it. You on the other hand call it an odor. I could give a rat’s ass who the 28th is because they are also thieves. You can live in denial but many here do not.
Apneaman on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 12:44 pm
Lil Planter, I shit out more brain cells every morning then you’ll ever have.
Northwest Resident on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 1:59 pm
“We’ve noticed an explosion of disinformation attempts on the internet over the last year.”
Planter is clearly one of those trolls paid to spread disinformation and stink up public forums like this one with stupidity and grotesque blathering. His constant insertion of the phrase “oil glut” into nearly everything he posts is meant to reinforce the MSM-driven narrative that the only big problem we have with oil is that we’re just producing too damn much of it, due to getting ahead of ourselves with such excellent technology and oil producing capability. That false narrative obscures the dreadful truth — exactly what is intended.
I really like a lot of the posters on this forum, and there is so much potential here for informed and enlightened discussion. But look at the 20 most recent posts — six of them are stupid posts by Plant, and three or four of them are responses to Plant’s stupid posts. Other times, a majority of the most recent 20 posts are by Plant, or responses to Plant taking issue with his obnoxious brand of idiocy.
The management of Peakoil dot com is providing unfettered internet exposure to trolls and insane America-haters. I still come to this site from time to time, but when I see a bunch of posts by Plant I just leave in disgust. I’m sure that there are numerous truth-seekers and people who are trying to figure things out who come to this forum only to be disgusted and turned off by the likes of Plant, and they just go someplace else.
What a shame. And shame on the management of this forum for providing Plant and others so much public exposure to spread their idiocy and lunacy, and to further their causes of disinformation, disruption and just plan B.S.
Perk Earl on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 2:19 pm
“I still come to this site from time to time, but when I see a bunch of posts by Plant I just leave in disgust.”
NR, good to see you posting again. I saw a post by GregT some time ago in which he wrote just ignore the trolls. I thought that was pretty good advise and have been doing that since then.
It’s like an extension of being an independent person, by simply skipping over certain monikers and looking for one’s that are of interest. Then I reply or post something of my own and I’m off to do something else. Since I never read certain monikers anymore, there’s no reaction to respond to because I don’t even know what they wrote.
Nony on Wed, 1st Apr 2015 4:37 pm
Alt energy is silly. It it’s economic, it will get developed.
Northwest Resident on Thu, 2nd Apr 2015 1:42 am
Perk — Yeah, I get your points. I tried that. But I have a hard time ignoring the stupidity and crudeness that the management of this site enables. They’re just in it for the clicks and the banner displays — cheap easy money, but very small money. This site could be great, but it is pathetic due to lack of management interest and failure to responsibly prevent trolls and haters from reeking havoc. I can ignore simple stupidity, even laugh at it. But willful pompous stupidity just rubs me the wrong way, and there is way too much of that on this forum, thanks to the don’t-give-a-shit management.