"All renewables depend heavily on our fossil fuel system ... I think we should be looking for inexpensive solutions ... I think if the true picture is considered, the amount of environmental benefits of renewables is very low, or perhaps negative ... I think the peak in oil production [all liquids] will be determined based on financial considerations. Such a peak is probably not very far away, because we are already
experiencing lower economic growth and the governments of several
countries are in dire financial straits ... With lower ability to pay for products using oil, the price of oil will
drop. Fewer producers will be able to extract oil at this lower price,
and the supply of oil will decrease ... I see the future as fairly bleak. The big issue is the way high oil
prices affect the economy, leading to recession, joblessness, and huge
government deficits. The issue is really a lack of cheap oil ... We are right now experiencing adverse financial impacts from high oil
prices, but these impacts are being disguised by artificially low
interest rates and huge amounts of deficit spending ... People in poor financial condition are more likely to make big changes ... The world will be a lot poorer ... It appears to me that we are now hitting some version of “Limits to
Growth”. Most economists haven’t figured out the connection between the
economy and the natural world, so are oblivious to our current
predicament ... In the next four years, I expect we will find ourselves doing a U-turn on economic growth."
Ein Interview mit Gail Tverberg über die Abhängigkeit "regenerativer" Energien vom Erdöl, Kernenergie, die globale Finanzkrise, Peak Oil und des Ende des Wachstums. Erschienen auf OilPrice (9. Oktober 2012).
