http://www.fcnp.com/commentary/national/9335-the-peak-oil-crisis-an-announcement.html
Finally, the UK government has admitted that not only is there credence to the Peak Oil Theory but that it should be taken seriously.
Most sane people accept that "Peak Oil" is more than simply a theory. If we accept that oil took millions of years to be create and that there's no more 'in production' right now then we can look at this as a bucket of water.
Imagine a 20lt bucket of water, full to the brim. Add lots of drinking straws and lots of people sucking the water out. Now, pretend it has taken approximately 100 years for 10lt (half of the water) to be sucked up. This half way point is 'Peak Oil' - that point where we have passed the half way point. Now, if we had 100 years to sort this out and prepare then you would think we would have enough time and that surely the human race could come up with something to sort out our energy demands thereafter. BUT, imagine now that each person sucking on those straws begins to suck a little faster and more straws are being added every minute (population growth).
Very quickly you understand that we no longer have 100years until it has all gone.
So how much longer do we have? Noone knows. We don't know how much oil there was in the first place and we can't accurately assess at what pace it is being extracted from the earth. What we do know is that production is slowing in all countries and finding more is an increasingly difficult process. Couple that with the biggest oil fields sitting in the most volatile areas of the world (Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya) and that just exacerbates the problem.
Ok, so we won't have oil to produce electricty then....we have gas, coal, nuclear, wind, wave, solar, etc....we'll be fine.
Aside from the obvious environmental issues of fossil fuel use, take a look around you now. How much plastic can you see? Essentially, how many man-made objects can you see. Plastics, glass, creams, paints, detergents, clothing, medecines....these are just a few things that are oil-based in some way or another. Yes, there are other ways to make those same things using 'oil-substitutes' that are produced from crops, bacteria and new technologies. The reason oil is used, however, is because it is cheap. Plastics are cheap. When we run out of oil, however, plastics will no longer be cheap.
The effect of oil on the world economy is truly incomprehensible. As "Peak Oil" is truly understood, so our lives will change forever.
But the UK Government has started to look at this, right?
Yes, they have but is it too little too late? We are a net importer of oil and gas and we have no significant exports. Our entire economy and way of life is based on the import of energy. What possible effect can the UK have in this truly global problem that will effect every single person on the planet?
