a few years ago, in an idle moment, i thought back to the 1980s (the aftermath of the oil shocks) and found myself wondering whatever happened to oil running out. it wasn’t something i’d heard in the last decade. strangely it seemed to be off the agenda. the more i dug into this (i think i’ve blogged this before), the more bizarre it seemed that there was nothing in the media. from my reading it seemed like there was less than 30 years of oil, much less of projected demand (think China, India). some months later there appeared large price increases and peak oil was back on the agenda (odd concept, peak oil - doesn’t work for me). and then the price fell again and we return to silence. any mention of replacing oil, nowadays, is about climate change alone.
gm, ford start failing. i (you even) could have told them 20 years ago to invest in more efficient or alternative fuel engines, we really could. but they didn’t. (”they don’t launch the lifeboats until the ship is sinking”). and it always struck me that the oil companies were badly incentivised. it takes a pretty solumn board to eschew the fat profits and consequential personal remuneration that exploiting a finite supply and static regulation can bring. even in my personal experience, i’ve heard board members talk of 20 years ahead as being past the decision threshold (who cares, none of us will be here).
5 minute ramble prompted by this.
