cassandralegacy | Since at least the end of 2014 there has been increasing confusions about oil prices, whether so-called “Peak Oil”
has already happened, or will happen in the future and when, matters of
EROI (or EROEI) values for current energy sources and for alternatives,
climate change and the phantasmatic 2oC warming limit, and concerning the feasibility of shifting rapidly to renewables or sustainable sources of energy supply. Overall,
it matters a great deal whether a reasonable time horizon to act is say
50 years, i.e. in the main the troubles that we are contemplating are
taking place way past 2050, or if we are already in deep trouble and the
timeframe to try and extricate ourselves is some 10 years. Answering
this kind of question requires paying close attention to system boundary
definitions and scrutinising all matters taken for granted.
It took over 50 years for climatologists to be heard and for politicians
to reach the Paris Agreement re climate change (CC) at the close of the
COP21, late last year. As you no doubt can gather from the title, I am of the view that we do not have 50 years to agonise about oil. In
the three sections of this post I will first briefly take stock of
where we are oil wise; I will then consider how this situation calls
upon us to do our utter best to extricate ourselves from the current
prevailing confusion and think straight about our predicament; and in
the third part I will offer a few considerations concerning the near
term, the next ten years – how to approach it, what cannot work and what
may work, and the urgency to act, without delay.
