GAP-JOURNAL 2012/13 - AFA

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warning that the well-being ofpeople, industry and economy depends on adepleted
stock:
“We are on the brink of anew energy order. Over the next few decades, our reserves of oil
will start torun out and it is imperative that governments inboth producing and consuming
nations prepare now for that time. We should not cling to crude down tothe last drop –we
should leave oil before it leaves us. That means new approaches must be found soon […]
The really important thing isthat even though weare not yet runningout of oil, we are running
out of time.” (The Independent 2008)
Hence, we have to deal with ‘peak oil’ 1 .Atthe same time, the present production and
use of energy pose aserious threat tothe global environment, particularly inrelation to
emissions ofgreenhouse gases (GHG) and consequently climate change. Asshown in
Figure 1, global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have significantly increased since
1990. CO 2 emissions increased about 16 times between 1900 and 2008 and about 1.5
times between 1990 and 2008 (United States Environmental Protection Agency2010).
Figure 1:
Global carbon dioxide emissions fromfossil-fuels since 1900-2008
Source: United States Environmental Protection Agency(2010)
1 ‘Peak oilʼ refers to the maximum rate of oil production, after which the rate ofproduction enters
terminal decline. Although there will beoil remaining inthe ground when world oil production
peaks, the remaining oil will become increasingly difficult and more costly toproduce until the
marginal financial and energy cost of producing oil exceeds the marginal profit and energy gained.
Source: Morrigan(2010: 21)