Comments on: Peak Oil – Net Energy Argument

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 01:36:41 +0000

I would like to see the localisation vs globalisation issue explored more fully. I believe there are a number of issues besides oil that warrant further investigation, viz. energy consumption (mentioned above), global warming (transport comes at an environmental cost), skills loss and the associated increase in dependence on others for foodstuffs and manufactured goods.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:01:55 +0000

This is just more oil worship. There is plenty of energy. As the world becomes more electrified, energy use can go down, not because there is not enough, but because it a much better energy source than oil. The useful energy return on oil is about 2 to 1. The useful energy return on renewable electricity powering PHEVs is about 10 to 1. Maybe we are at peak energy, peak energy wastage that is.

By: Korgmeister

Korgmeister — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 09:38:01 +0000

I think one effect is that telecommunications are going to become much more important.

The internet, as well as virtualisation (that is, doing in software things that used to require special hardware) have a great amount of potential in terms of reducing energy usage.

This potential hasn't been used yet because energy is still cheap and plentiful, but in future, it may be explored more fully.