Oil

With the price of oil dipping below US$50 a barrel this week and gas prices in Vancouver dropping below $1 / litre, I thought it might be worthwhile to talk about oil. There's alot to say. There's Marion King Hubert, an economist, who in the mid-1950's created a theory about when U.S. oil production would peak. He predicted 1965-1970 (it happened in 1970). Building upon Hubert's work several experts suggest that worldwide oil production reached its all-time peak in December 2005. Going forward, they say, it's all downhill from there.

What's one to do? Well, who uses all this oil and what for? The pie-chart, from NationMaster.com shows that the United States, representing about 5% of the world's population consumes 25% of it's oil. Before you get all smug, realize that Canada's per-capita oil consumption (about 13.7 barrels of oil per person per day) is only slightly lower than America's.

If you want to address the 'oil crisis' and all its ripple effects, including global warming, you start in North America.

About 67% of our oil-consumption is transportation related. Wind-power and solar cells aren't going to address that issue. And encouraging car-pooling, public transit, or city centre clusters, while helpful won't have much impact in the near term.

So if you want to make a big difference and make it fast, radically improve per-capita fuel economy. Subsidize hybrids, tax gas guzzlers (up front, rather than at the pump). Make hybrids ridiculously cheap and something will happen.