22 October 2007

Coventry And Peak Oil

The Germany-based Energy Watch Group is releasing a study on global oil production in London today.

Their report says that world oil production has already peaked and will fall by 7% a year. It also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown.

- Coventry doesn't have a plan to deal with peak oil.
- The draft climate change strategy, out for consultation, doesn't mention peak oil.
- The city council has a "risk register" with threats evaluated for impact (1 to 5 points, 5 being high) and "how soon" (1 to 5, 5 being more than once a year). Peak oil is not on the risk register at all.

Other cities (notably, Portland, in the US) have had citizen task forces on peak oil and peak energy -- holding 40 meetings and involving dozens of policymakers, experts, stakeholders and interested citizens in gathering information on peak oil and preparing a report for public comment.

It's the kind of thing that we need to do in Coventry, so we're ready when higher energy prices come.

The EWG study relies more on actual oil production data which, it says, are more reliable than estimates of reserves still in the ground. The group says official industry estimates put global reserves at about 1.255 gigabarrels - equivalent to 42 years' supply at current consumption rates. But it thinks the figure is only about two thirds of that.

Jeremy Leggett, one of Britain's leading environmentalists and the author of Half Gone, a book about "peak oil" - defined as the moment when maximum production is reached, said that both the UK government and the energy industry were in "institutionalised denial" and that action should have been taken sooner.

No comments: