<How is the supply of oil protected for the rest of the interdependent world?>
Every windmill we build, every barrel of oil made from tar sands, every kilowatt saved by more efficient motors, every replacemnt for ME oil, all of it changes the global supply/demand balance in our favor. And decreases the political power of our enemies in Saudi Arabia.
Whatever technology we develop, can be profitably leased to the Japanese and Germans, who need it even more than we do.
First, energy supplies become more secure, more reliable. For everyone. Then, as the technologies are further refined, they become cheaper. For everyone. The only losers are ME oligarchies. Everyone else is a winner.
<Within 10 years the quantity of oil production will have peaked>
The odd thing about oil is, the more that's pumped up, the more they find still in the ground. The supply in the ground is not a fixed constant. It's a variable, dependent on other variables, mainly technology and price. What I worry about, is not so much running out of oil, but the danger of continuing our co-dependant relationship with Middle East despots. We are addicted to imported oil, and they are addicted to protection by our army. It's an unhealthy relationship, and bound to end badly. |
