Hi Lazs!
I’ve been thinking about this, and NattyIced is right. There isn’t a lot we can do – or else there’s too much for us to do, whichever way you look at it.
Lazs, you need to understand the scale of the problem, and get a sense of proportion. Every year, six billion tonnes of man-made carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. The USA is directly responsible for 25% of that. Britain is responsible for 2%. Therefore, given that the UK population is ~58m, I am responsible for 0.0000000344% of the world total. But remember, a lot of energy is consumed for public buildings and infrastructure, and what can be directly ascribed to me in terms of gas used for heating, electricity, and diesel fuel for my car is probably more like 0.00000002% of the world total. So as you can see, changing my habits or lifestyle will make bugger all difference to the dilemma facing the world. Even if my entire town got wiped off the map, the CO2 reduction world-wide would amount to only 0.000128%. So the fatuous suggestions about cancelling a week long boat trip, or maybe turning down the gas fire or lowering the thermostat, are just that – fatuous. I should also remind you that I do not charter my own Airbus 340 when I go on a trip, and that the flights I take would be running anyway – with me or without me. Same goes for you – go on with your 8mpg hot-rodding. The CO2 reduction were you to stop would register as a blippette on the world chart.
To answer you question about where do we go from here…
Our economies are based on the burning of fossil fuels. That will probably be the case for the rest of my life and yours, because even though the oil may run out in 20-30 years, there will be a transition period when liquefied natural gas (LNG) will become a primary source of fuel. The largest stocks of LNG are to be found in Russia, Iran and Qatar. But this will last only about 20 years, and I’m not sure that even these estimates take into account the huge increase in demand for oil expected to be made by China. If this increase in demand materialises, oil costs are going to rise by huge margins – far more than the increases in the post Katrina period…
…at which point the public will be up in arms and you’ll be able to buy a 12mpg Ford Excursion for $1000 - $100 for the vehicle itself, and $900 for the fuel inside the tank. LOL. When oil becomes so expensive that we can’t afford it, it will become viable to develop alternative energy sources. There’s talk about a revival of nuclear energy. I know there are issues with nuclear waste, but these pale into insignificance compared with the fate which awaits the earth if we were to go on burning fossil fuels for the next 100 years.
As I have said before, there is one thing and one thing only that will change our demand for oil, and make us look for other energy technologies: Cost – which is itself a factor in the supply/demand equation.
