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There are still undercurrents of massive danger that lie beneath the weak global economic recovery. One of those currents is the HUGE amount of debt countries have above their heads. The U.S. has just reached £14.3 TRILLION, which just also happens to be their ceiling, so no more room there for any more debt, which means unless they figure something out, they are going to default on their debt payments for the very first time. The markets will not react to that very well. Also, Greece is looking for a second bailout, after getting 95 billion Euros last year. The world quickly needs to rid itself of it’s debt, else risk another financial meltdown.
The other dangerous undercurrent is our use of oil. I know I bang on a bit about this sometimes, but the more you investigate into the issue of Peak Oil, when demand outstrips supply, the more you realise that when we get to this point and past it, there is the potential for chaos if we don’t prepare ourselves now.
The first obvious thing to point out is price. Prices of oil are only going to go up in the medium to long term. So when we do reach peak point (which some estimate could be only 3/4 years away), prices are set to rocket up. Only then will people realise that this precious black stuff has now become the most valuable thing on Earth. But what will countries do to try to stave off panic? OPEC, the group of leading oil producing nations, could increase their production capacity to the world to try and limit the rise in prices. But how likely is this? OPEC countries may decide to keep their own country’s supplies rather than export them to others, knowing how valuable their commodity is now. That’s where we could see international tensions and possible conflicts as a result.
To avoid such a scenario, we really need to be looking at all possible sources of renewable energy. I believe that the future of energy is going to be in electricity. It gets the most funding and attention, and so has the best possibility of replacing oil as our main source of fuel. However, we are still far away from that scenario becoming implementable. Electric cars are still too expensive, slow and don’t have the range of petrol or diesel cars. Solar panels are still very expensive, though with Government grants and schemes that’s a problem that can be overcome. I also think we can all do a bit more in terms of food production i.e. grow our own, but I suppose that’s a post for another day!
If we prepare ourselves now for the point where the oil industry becomes too expensive for the world to cope with, then we could possibly avert global scale problems. But it has to be now. Not next year, not in the next few years, but now. If we are to believe the oil experts, peak point is only a few years away, so we really don’t have any time to spare.
The other dangerous undercurrent is our use of oil. I know I bang on a bit about this sometimes, but the more you investigate into the issue of Peak Oil, when demand outstrips supply, the more you realise that when we get to this point and past it, there is the potential for chaos if we don’t prepare ourselves now.
The first obvious thing to point out is price. Prices of oil are only going to go up in the medium to long term. So when we do reach peak point (which some estimate could be only 3/4 years away), prices are set to rocket up. Only then will people realise that this precious black stuff has now become the most valuable thing on Earth. But what will countries do to try to stave off panic? OPEC, the group of leading oil producing nations, could increase their production capacity to the world to try and limit the rise in prices. But how likely is this? OPEC countries may decide to keep their own country’s supplies rather than export them to others, knowing how valuable their commodity is now. That’s where we could see international tensions and possible conflicts as a result.
To avoid such a scenario, we really need to be looking at all possible sources of renewable energy. I believe that the future of energy is going to be in electricity. It gets the most funding and attention, and so has the best possibility of replacing oil as our main source of fuel. However, we are still far away from that scenario becoming implementable. Electric cars are still too expensive, slow and don’t have the range of petrol or diesel cars. Solar panels are still very expensive, though with Government grants and schemes that’s a problem that can be overcome. I also think we can all do a bit more in terms of food production i.e. grow our own, but I suppose that’s a post for another day!
If we prepare ourselves now for the point where the oil industry becomes too expensive for the world to cope with, then we could possibly avert global scale problems. But it has to be now. Not next year, not in the next few years, but now. If we are to believe the oil experts, peak point is only a few years away, so we really don’t have any time to spare.
>Agree with your sentiment here.
Here's quite an interesting video along similar lines:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPp0Ey1kjwc
There's a Part 2 also.