Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
But our cultural ignorance concerning basic energy numeracy, as well as an understanding of the economics of oil and energy allows otherwise intelligent and well-informed people to participate in outrage towards BP without reflecting for a moment on their own attitudes, habits, or behavior.
A newly released report from Lloyds Insurance and Chatham House does an amazing job of putting the case for Transition to a business audience. It states that any business seeking to be successful in the future will need to be prepared for ‘dramatic changes in the energy sector’, and that energy dependency will become a key vulnerability. This is, in effect, the Hirsch Report for British business.
When press releases are made about new discoveries, ask yourself: “how much energy will be used to get that energy, or what will be the energy profit?”
Embattled oil giant BP has released an annual review of global energy demand claiming we have 45 year’s worth of oil – but at the same time stressing the importance of deepwater operations such as the Gulf of Mexico. The great unanswered question of course being: Why would they be attempting to extract oil at the depth the Titanic sank if it was easily available elsewhere?
Well, well, well. Who woulda thunk it? Goliath went down hard. Goliath, in his latest incarnation as California utility leviathan Pacific Gas & Electric, took to the field armed with all the weapons 45 million dollars can buy against…a pair of tiny websites and a tall red-haired dude with a busted video camera. And got his ass handed to him.
It is now 8 weeks since the Deepwater Horizon Explosion, and while BP claims to be capturing around 15,000 barrels of oil a day, there are still widely varying estimates of the amount of oil still escaping into the ocean. As public and political anger against the company increase, the knock on effects of the disaster for the company and the industry are growing.
-After the credit crisis – next it will be oil
-Lloyd’s predicts BP disaster will prove oil industry’s Three Mile Island
-Talk of Second Oil Spill in Gulf Grows Louder
Finally, a single article from the mainstream points out that maybe we should re-think our oil-drenched lifestyles. Oil drilling threatens our future, as even the BBC has determined. Will that be enough to get us off the devil’s excrement?
Like it or hate it, the International Energy Outlook from the EIA is a touchstone for the energy industry and is treated as the authoritative government forecast in the press and in capital raising documents like prospectuses. It influences policy-makers, the media, public opinion and investors. What it says matters.
And what does it say?
That peak oil is all but on us.
The GOM oil spew reinforces the extent to which Americans “just don’t get it” regarding
the unsustainable nature of our American way of life.
You have been warned. This is a politically incorrect article. In 1999, I read Jane Goodall’s book, Reason for Hope, which took the optimistic view that, in spite of human activity, our beautiful blue planet is very resilient. She lists nature’s resiliency as her third reason for hope, the others being the human brain, the indomitable human spirit, and the determination of young people.
As catastrophes go, the flood of oil in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) ranks right up there. Today I’m going to look at the effects of the 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling. Back on May 6, I published Oil Production In the GOM—What’s At Stake? This is a follow-up based on new developments since then.
