What does the term peak oil mean and how will it affect you and me? Here is a simple look at understanding world oil usage and the long term implications on the man in the street.
The first things you should write are:Start by making a list of everything that uses oil and it’s derivatives.
Cars
Planes
Ships
Machines
Factories
Obvious, yes?
What about plastics and any other petrochemical based product? The list starts to get longer.
Add in clothing from back packs through to stockings…
Think children’s toys, babies diapers then keep going through the kitchen where all bottles, pans and brushes contain a oil derivative.
Visit your cosmetics cupboards – it’s in there too and in the comfy lounge suite you sit on!
Yes, oil is used in almost everything. You can download a 12 page list of things that use oil here.
How this affects the global problem of the approaching peak oil problem is that at current estimates the world uses 85 million barrels of oil per day. To this novice tree hugger that sounds like a huge amount and the question that follows is how much oil is left for us to use at this current rate.
Well that’s where peak oil comes in. Many laymen, and woman like myself, falsely believed that the world is running out of oil, but that is not completely correct. What it actually refers to is that at the current rate of extraction suppliers can no longer sustain the demand at this level. From this point onwards there will be a decline in oil production and the suppliers of oil to the world at large will no longer be able to meet the demand.
How will peak oil affect you and me?
Remember all of those things listed above? Well, firstly they will become more expensive to purchase. This is a simple lesson in economics – where the demand exceeds supply the price goes up.
That means rising costs for running cars, airflight, train travel. It means rising costs to import goods into your country and home. It also means that simple things that we take for granted everyday, like diapers and perhaps stockings, will soon become much more expensive and therefore luxury items.
What is the remedy?
Well, let’s not get too hysterical and start acting like Chicken Little, but take simple steps every day to lessen your dependence on shop bought items.
Use your car less and your legs more… and think about converting to a hybrid car or biofuels.