Friday, February 16, 2007

Peak-Oil again

As always, the latest news-letter from ASPO (Association for the Study of Peak-Oil) is worthy of attention.
I'm baffled by the extent to which the phenomenon of 'man-made climate change' captures the attention of both politicians and the public generally, whilst the looming epoch-changing collision between peaking energy production and near exponential increasing global energy demand is ignored.

Aprops a brief survey of Norwegian energy policy in the newsletter, the following snippet caught my attention:
"Norway might learn from the unfortunate experience of Britain across the North Sea, which depleted its oil and gas at the maximum rate possible, now facing exhaustion within 10-15 years. Britain’s remaining resources are largely owned by foreign companies with the right to export to their home countries, despite the country’s own dire needs. But Norway has its fair share of flat-earth economists for whom money today is worth more than security tomorrow, so it is far from sure that sound national policies will be adopted."
So, just how often have you heard that UK North Sea Oil and Gas production peaked in 2001, is currently declining at around 8-10% per annum and that reserves are likely to be exhausted in 10-15 years?

Is it any wonder that His Toniness is so keen on nuclear power?

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