Preparing for Peak Oil
Global oil production will almost certainly ‘peak’ and go into sustained decline within the next few years. In addition to the challenge of climate change, we will soon have to contend with a rapidly growing deficit in fuels for transport. This will cause big spikes in energy prices – including natural gas and electricity – with potentially devastating economic and social impacts. This has severe implications for the provision of services by local government. This issue is usually described as ‘peak oil’. It is rarely acknowledged by national governments, but is rapidly gaining credibility among local authorities around the world – and on financial markets. Forecasters differ about the exact date of the peak, but there is a growing consensus that it will happen in the next ten years. To many experts the soaring price of crude suggests that we may be at peak oil now.
Those are the grim words contained in the executive summary of a new report on Peak Oil from The Oil Depletion Analysis Centre and Post Carbon Institute. In their report Preparing for Peak Oil Local Authorities and the Energy Crisis, that authors describe the challenges and offer consultation on how local authorities should deal with the impending energy crisis facilitated by the onset of Peak Oil.
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