Time is running for oil-based prosperity so we must look to alternative energy – fast

THE recent increases in the price of crude oil resulting from just a slight upsurge in global economic sentiment is a very good indicator of the source of current economic problems.

These oil price increases also place a huge question mark over all “stimulus packages” in relation to the effects which they will have on the energy supply-demand curve.

Over the past century cheap oil has gradually replaced the “labour” used to add value to natural resources in the wealth creation process.

When combined with technological advances, this substitution of oil-based energy for labour has played a major role in creating the unprecedented prosperity which the developed world has in recent years come to enjoy and now appears to expect as a fundamental right. Since the arrival of “peak oil” and the subsequent oil price spike it is becoming increasingly apparent that without a new source of cheap energy, sustained economic growth to which the availability of credit is so intrinsically linked will simply cease.

In spite of some reservations, the recently announced wind energy and storage initiatives here in Ireland, as well as developments in deep well drilling for geothermal energy in other parts of the world, appear to inspire some hope for our future. Regrettably, however, time is not on our side as a great deal of work remains to be done if we are to retain any semblance of our current economic wellbeing.

John Heney

Kilfeacle

Co Tipperary