I've personally been interested in Peak Oil for some 4-5 years now, primarily because of the potential drastic impact that it could have on our economy and way of life.
This is the first of a series of posts that I'll be making on the issue. It's main pupose is to show that it is now very much a mainstream issue, that is being taken seriously by many well recognised media agencies.
This article by business week serves to exemplify this point:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_26/b4040074.htm?campaign_id=rss_magzn
Here's a noteworthy passage from the article:
"Peak oil refers to the point at which world oil production plateaus before beginning to decline as depletion of the world's remaining reserves offsets ever-increased drilling. Some experts argue that we're already there, and that we won't exceed by much the daily production high of 84.5 million barrels first reached in 2005. If so, global production will bump along near these levels for years before beginning an inexorable decline.
What would that mean? Alternatives are still a decade away from meeting incremental demand for oil. With nothing to fill the gap, global economic growth would slow, stop, and then reverse; international tensions would soar as nations seek access to diminishing supplies, enriching autocratic rulers in unstable oil states; and, unless other sources of energy could be ramped up with extreme haste, the world could plunge into a new Dark Age.
GIVEN SUCH UNPLEASANT possibilities, you'd think peak oil would be a national obsession. But policymakers can hide behind the possibility that vast troves will be available from unconventional sources, or that secretive oil-exporting nations really have the huge reserves they claim. Yet even if those who say that the peak has arrived are wrong, enough disturbing omens—for example, declining production in most of the world's great oil fields and no new superfields to take up the slack—exist for the issue to merit an intense international focus."
My next post will be looking at the issues involved with Peak Oil in a little more detail. In particular I will be looking at what peak oil could mean for New Zealand's economy and New Zealander's lifestyles.
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Totally agree Roger. We should be building those nuclear power stations asap eh!! Must be cold in Dunedin tonight. A balmy 18 degrees in Perth here at the moment. Have a good weekend
ReplyDeleteThe main problem with Nuclear power in the New Zealand context is that the smallest reactors are too big for our grid. i.e. If you were to take one off-line (which you need to do every few months) it would represent taking out about 1/4 of total generation. We simply don't have the economies of scale to make it economically viable. This is the way that Keith Turner (Meridian’s CEO) explained it anyway.
ReplyDeleteDunedin is bloody cold at the moment - probably about 6-10 degrees most of the time. I might consider moving over to Ausie after I finish my masters - especially if National is in power here and Labour gets in over there.
Mate, the Labour party here is more right wing than National back home!!!. Rudd supports tax cuts, Howards aboriginal program and claims he is an economic conservative. Only thing we dont really understand is the position on industrial relations!!! On the one hand he has massive union funding, on the other he supports secret ballots for strikes. Anyway Auntie helen cant be too bad. Moving back to wellington in two weeks.
ReplyDeleteBest thing for the cold in Dunedin is a cheese and chutney toasted doorstop sandwhich and a pint of guiness at the Albert arms.
"Rudd supports tax cuts, Howards aboriginal program and claims he is an economic conservative"
ReplyDeleteYes, but it's a far more progressive tax system than New Zealand has. Howard's aboriginal programme is authoritarian and conservative and really has nothing to do with left or right. Being an economic conservative means that you're fiscally tight - i'm not certain, but I think that this has little to do with left or right.
"Only thing we dont really understand is the position on industrial relations!!! On the one hand he has massive union funding, on the other he supports secret ballots for strikes."
As I understand it, Rudd wants to bring back the awards system. This is far more left-wing than the fith labour government has ever gone.
Thanks for commenting on my blog frederico!
It certainly isn't impossible to build much smaller commercial reactors than those you refer to Roger, though I don't see the nuclear option as the right one for NZ.
ReplyDeleteThe quickest fix is energy reduction particularly of the wasteful variety. Low energy lighting, more efficient appliances and better home insulation are all thing government can and should encourage and if this means tax incentives then so be it-the consequences of not doing should be beyond political dogma.
ReplyDelete