Today the online version of Helsingin Sanomat is running a poll asking “Onko polttoaineiden hinnannousu oikein?” i.e. roughly “Are the rising fuel costs just?” or “Is it right that fuel prices rise?” – what an exceedingly dumb question. It’s not a matter of “right” or “wrong”, it’s just the way things are.
And it’s the way things are going to be, too. Fuel prices will continue to rise, despite of and actually especially in the face of lunatic energy policies globally until significant demand destruction takes place. Of course, there are different degrees of lunacy; in many (or most) countries consumers cry for easing fuel taxes or any way of bringing down the fuel costs. The fact that some governments are caving in is bad enough, but then there’s one country that’s contemplating suing OPEC for limiting oil production. They won’t, of,course, but the mere gesture is so outrageously ridiculous it’s hard to understand. Peak Oil, anyone? Hello? Doesn’t ring a bell?
The era of cheap oil is OVER. Permanently, irrevocably over. Just how difficult can that be to understand? Just get over it. Does it hurt to fill up so often? Drive less. You “have to” drive since your commute is 50km each way with no access to public transport? Move. Who told you to live far out in the proverbial suburbia anyway? At least pressure your county/town/city to build some public transport infrastructure. Life’s full of choices and the rising energy price is hopefully forcing people, corporations and governments alike to choose a bit more environmentally friendly options in all walks of life.
Check out this great post by Richard Heinberg. In the end, it really does come down to this:
We will drive less, we will fly less, and we will grow our food more locally with fewer inputs. But these changes will go far more smoothly if we plan for them, rather than being forced into them at the nozzle of an empty gas pump. There is a cliché in action films: “We can do this the hard way, or we can do it the easy way.” Blaming OPEC while doing nothing to rein in our domestic demand for petroleum only ensures that we will be adapting to Peak Oil the hard way.
Indeed. Calling for tax cuts and whining about fuel prices while doing nothing to conserve fuel, failing to look for alternatives with any serious effort and neglecting to improve the public transit infrastructure are also ways of insuring we do it the hard way.
Links
- The Market Traders: Foreign Oil Dependency and Political Lunacy
- Peak Oil News / Richard Heinberg: Have we really hit peak oil?
- An example of just how wrong analysts can be; CNNMoney.com on “Why oil won’t hit $100″ from less than a year ago.
- Energy Bulletin: The illusion of vast undeveloped U.S. oil resources
- The Oil Drum: Countdown to $200 oil
- Jamais Cascio: The suburban question
- The Economist: Double, oil and trouble
- The Oil Drum: Why oil costs over $120 per barrel (excellent overview)
Ps. As a sidenote, it’s generally agreed that there is only one oil-producing country in the world that is not (or may not be) pumping flat out as it is – Saudi Arabia. And contrary to popular opinion, them not taking into use the modest reserve capacity they have or may have is a very good thing. If even they pumped at full capacity, the world oil supplies would be even less resistant to disruptions and Peak Oil itself would come that much sooner. What we really need is to implement a controlled, predictable decline of global oil production.
