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2008 The Oil Crunch: Securing the UK’s energy future - First report of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil & Energy Security (ITPOES)

Author: Jeremy Leggett (editor)
Organisation: UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil & Energy Security (ITPOES)
Publish Date: October 2008
Country: United Kingdom
Sector: Petroleum
Method: Forecasting
Theme: Energy
Type: Report
Language: English
Tags: Oil depletion, Oil supply, Oil demand, Mitigation options, National energy mobilisation plans

There isn’t any shortage of oil, but there is a real shortage of the cheap
oil that for too long we have taken for granted. During the 20th century,
cheap oil – $20 – 30/barrel in today’s terms – allowed the internal
combustion engine to replace the steam engine and sparked a transport revolution that fostered and fed the innate human desire to travel. We loved it. Today’s high prices are sending a message to the world that words alone have failed to convey, namely that not only are we leaving the era of cheap energy but that we have to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. For once what is right is also what is expedient – we know that we have to stop burning fossil fuels because of the irreversible environmental damage they cause, and now it may be cheaper to do so as well! The problem is that in the developed world our power and transport infrastructure is based almost entirely on fossil fuels. With the best will and the best technology in the world this will take decades to change.
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