"Will we wait until it is too late? You would expect that with all recent news from the Gulf about Oil Spill there will be a very intensive discussion about alternative way of powering our lives and Green Revolution in transportation will be in focus of mass media. It is not the case yet - there will be a tough road ahead of us.
"This report: "Global Energy Crunch: How different parts of the world would react to a peak oil scenario" by Joerg Friedrichs is a must read for all investors and Obama administration. We guess that actually Obama knows better than many others that there is NO More Cheap Oil Left. With Oil Spill in the headlines and late realisation about the scale of this catastrophe all dreams about cheap oil will vanish, but question remains open: what Obama will be able to chose? Are we grown up enough to push him to endorse new technologies and get off from the Oil addiction or we will witness the Crash of Empire fighting wars which will benefit only few and destroy lives of billions?"
UK is very persistent in sounding an alarm about coming Peak Oil and what it means to the world economic system. Electrification of transportation is the only commercially available option to survive our life style now. It is well under way now in Asia and hopefully US corp will not lose this opportunity to reignite growth and save its economy from the Oil Shock. Access to Lithium and REE supply will gain a geopolitical significance as strategic advantage for basis of new electricity based mobility.
Image by madaboutasia via FlickrFT:
Oil shock ‘likely’ within decade, warns Huhne
By Fiona Harvey and Alex Barker
Energy secretary Chris Huhne wants to toughen European Union emissions-cutting targets, angering some Tories
Britain is “very likely” to face an oil shock within the next decade, triggering economic volatility as fraught with “nasty surprises” as the 1970s, the energy secretary has warned.
Chris Huhne told the Financial Times that Britain was in danger of becoming as vulnerable to price spikes as before the discovery of big North Sea oilfields, leaving the economy open to “very severe blows”.
His forecast of a looming energy crisis came in an interview where Mr Huhne admitted that “nuclear is going to play a part in the energy mix”, but declined to guarantee state support for low carbon manufacturing.
The energy secretary is a pivotal figure in the coalition who must implement a nuclear policy his own party has opposed, while fighting his corner in one of Whitehall’s toughest budget negotiations to protect cherished green policies from the Treasury axe.
Mr Huhne is pushing to toughen the European Union’s emissions-cutting target from 20 per cent by 2020 to 30 per cent, angering some businesses and Tories, who fear rising costs.
But when asked whether energy bills must increase to meet the government’s green agenda, Mr Huhne instead highlighted the dangers of an era of erratic oil prices.
“The world we’re going into isn’t going to be a world where the oil price will be $80 a barrel flat for ever, or $150 a barrel flat for ever,” he said. “It will be a world where we will have very substantial oil price spikes, which have an enormous capacity to provide shocks to the domestic economy and to the world economy, exactly as they did in the 1970s and 80s.”
The only way in which to avoid such shocks, he said, was to invest heavily in energy efficiency and renewable sources of power.
“What worries me ... is that we’re moving from a world where the UK is dependent on imported energy for only 27 per cent of our needs, to a world where it’s going to be anything from 46 per cent to 58 per cent within 10 years,” he said.
“That puts us right back into the scale of energy import dependence that we were in back in the 1970s, when we suffered very, very severe blows as a result of the oil price shock.”
One of Mr Huhne’s biggest challenges is offering financial backing for low carbon, while at the same time finding 20 to 40 per cent savings from a budget that is in danger of being overwhelmed by nuclear decommissioning costs. Some “green” technology companies planning offshore wind turbine manufacturing facilities and carbon capture and storage plants are having second thoughts over investing in Britain because of the risk of the state withdrawing support.
Even so, Mr Huhne was unable to provide any assurances from a government that is borrowing “£1 of every £4” it spends. “Most businesses will recognise that when you are in that sort of situation with your cash flow, you have to take some pretty tough decisions,” he said.
However, Mr Huhne was confident that a new generation of nuclear power stations would be built, even without state subsidies – a condition of enforced austerity which some Lib Dems expected to scupper the programme.
“Nuclear will go ahead if investors come forward with proposals, as I think they will,” he said. “It’s very clear to me that nuclear is going to play a part in the energy mix, precisely because of the commitments that we’ve made in the coalition agreement.”
Rather than raising prices or imposing tough new laws, Mr Huhne promised to encourage take-up of energy efficiency measures and low-carbon technology through “a system of incentives, triggers and nudges”.
But government insiders admit that without a generous settlement from the Treasury, Mr Huhne will be forced to choose between ditching fuel poverty targets and his green ambitions or raising energy bills through increasing levies.
Mr Huhne said only that he would like to “simplify” the levies charged to businesses and consumers to help pay for low-carbon power."
By Fiona Harvey and Alex Barker
Energy secretary Chris Huhne wants to toughen European Union emissions-cutting targets, angering some Tories
Britain is “very likely” to face an oil shock within the next decade, triggering economic volatility as fraught with “nasty surprises” as the 1970s, the energy secretary has warned.
Chris Huhne told the Financial Times that Britain was in danger of becoming as vulnerable to price spikes as before the discovery of big North Sea oilfields, leaving the economy open to “very severe blows”.
His forecast of a looming energy crisis came in an interview where Mr Huhne admitted that “nuclear is going to play a part in the energy mix”, but declined to guarantee state support for low carbon manufacturing.
The energy secretary is a pivotal figure in the coalition who must implement a nuclear policy his own party has opposed, while fighting his corner in one of Whitehall’s toughest budget negotiations to protect cherished green policies from the Treasury axe.
Mr Huhne is pushing to toughen the European Union’s emissions-cutting target from 20 per cent by 2020 to 30 per cent, angering some businesses and Tories, who fear rising costs.
But when asked whether energy bills must increase to meet the government’s green agenda, Mr Huhne instead highlighted the dangers of an era of erratic oil prices.
“The world we’re going into isn’t going to be a world where the oil price will be $80 a barrel flat for ever, or $150 a barrel flat for ever,” he said. “It will be a world where we will have very substantial oil price spikes, which have an enormous capacity to provide shocks to the domestic economy and to the world economy, exactly as they did in the 1970s and 80s.”
The only way in which to avoid such shocks, he said, was to invest heavily in energy efficiency and renewable sources of power.
“What worries me ... is that we’re moving from a world where the UK is dependent on imported energy for only 27 per cent of our needs, to a world where it’s going to be anything from 46 per cent to 58 per cent within 10 years,” he said.
“That puts us right back into the scale of energy import dependence that we were in back in the 1970s, when we suffered very, very severe blows as a result of the oil price shock.”
One of Mr Huhne’s biggest challenges is offering financial backing for low carbon, while at the same time finding 20 to 40 per cent savings from a budget that is in danger of being overwhelmed by nuclear decommissioning costs. Some “green” technology companies planning offshore wind turbine manufacturing facilities and carbon capture and storage plants are having second thoughts over investing in Britain because of the risk of the state withdrawing support.
Even so, Mr Huhne was unable to provide any assurances from a government that is borrowing “£1 of every £4” it spends. “Most businesses will recognise that when you are in that sort of situation with your cash flow, you have to take some pretty tough decisions,” he said.
However, Mr Huhne was confident that a new generation of nuclear power stations would be built, even without state subsidies – a condition of enforced austerity which some Lib Dems expected to scupper the programme.
“Nuclear will go ahead if investors come forward with proposals, as I think they will,” he said. “It’s very clear to me that nuclear is going to play a part in the energy mix, precisely because of the commitments that we’ve made in the coalition agreement.”
Rather than raising prices or imposing tough new laws, Mr Huhne promised to encourage take-up of energy efficiency measures and low-carbon technology through “a system of incentives, triggers and nudges”.
But government insiders admit that without a generous settlement from the Treasury, Mr Huhne will be forced to choose between ditching fuel poverty targets and his green ambitions or raising energy bills through increasing levies.
Mr Huhne said only that he would like to “simplify” the levies charged to businesses and consumers to help pay for low-carbon power."
Related articles by Zemanta
No comments:
Post a Comment