When oil becomes too expensive

That oil supplies will run out one day is inevitable. It doesn’t grow on trees. And new sources of the black stuff are proving too expensive to extract when each barrel is trading at less than $100.

But once we’re out of recession, the price of oil can only go one way. Up. A long way up. Such is the premise behind a fascinating book by Canadian economist and energy expert Jeff Rubin.

Economics books can be pretty dry affairs. But not this one. Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller is a rollicking account – packed with relentlessly depressing facts and stories – of how the price of oil and the effect of peak oil is going to mould a new world and a new way of life for us all.

Our civilisation depends on cheap oil, without it our way of life will grind to a halt, says Rubin. As high prices become the norm our oil-dependent, long-distance lifestyles will become untenable. Triple-digit oil price will be the norm, China will no longer be the source of cheap goods as manufacturing moves back home, suburbs without public transport will become ghost downs. Many proposed sources of alternative energy are fatally flawed. And so it goes on.

Over the following few pages you’ll find a selection of snippets from the book illustrated with pictures from our library. Enjoy.

This Is Money (slideshow)