Peak Oil to Prematurely Prevent the Perilous Pursuit of a Precarious Paradise

The Independent on Sunday this week had a supplement with it called “Overseas Property” full of ways that British folks can buy their ‘dream holiday house’ in Spain or Portugal. The giveaway of course was in smaller print on the cover, “produced in association with British Airways”. Yes, of course. It is the cheap air travel that makes “buying your dream home by the sea” even a starter. I have got to feeling that there is something terribly undesirable and impendingly disastrous about all this. I’m sure some people will disagree, but I think there is something very important at issue here.

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The problem is that when fuel shortages start kicking in, when the price of aviation fuel starts to rise, all of a sudden having a house miles away that is that much harder to get to becomes distinctly less attractive. And usually people are mortaged to the hilt to buy this second home, so in order to meet the repayments they let the house over the summer. When much less people start going to these places, a lot of people are going to be left high and dry, with a house they paid well over the odds for that nobody wants. I am very fearful for a lot of people in this situation.

Energy Bulletin