ME and Ophelia

THE OIL AGE COULD END BEFORE WORLD RUNS OUT OF OIL:
Increase our energy security by reducing demand

Going by some of the reports I've read - to find out when we will run out of oil - it looks like we are relying on new technology to be invented to enable the oil age to end long before the world runs out of oil.

Seems the surest way to increase energy security is to reduce demand and for governments to start controlling usage.

Cost of oil and petrol is bound to go up. Which can't be a bad thing. People neeed to wake up and think and act more eco friendly. It would not be a bad thing if people slowed down. They are moving too fast. What I see and hear outside of my window to do with car obsessed people is barmy.

Car makers and their ad agencies brainwash gullible people into thinking when they are choosing a vehicle they are buying into a lifestyle. Gas guzzling cars look silly on the roads. Go to America and see pick up trucks and Cadillacs transporting one person (the driver). Heavily congested roads and traffic looks gross. Cars don't need to be large.

I've banged on for 30 years that the best solution to many environmental problems is to invest in first class transportation systems. Governments ought to tax fuel users more highly and use the revenue to invest in super efficient public transport systems to reduce wasteful fuel guzzling ways.

Wish someone would start a campaign that men who buy large cars have tiny little weenies. Heh. Men won't want to advertise their itsy bitsy little weenies. Taint the image of cars. Make 24/7 public transport smart, fast, efficient, convenient, comfortable, fashionable, friendly - and free. Make cars less desirable to women too - and as unfashionable as fur coats.

Further reading:

BBC asks "Is the world's oil running out fast?" "Many reserve figures are highly questionable,' says Dr Campbell.

New Scientist says oil supplies will peak as soon as 2010, and gas soon after.

Economist: "Will the oil run out? Eventually, yes; but by then it might no longer matter ... The stone age did not end because the world ran out of stones, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil.”