PEAK OIL

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area, adapting it optimally to the geographic features – wind power at the coasts, solar energy in southern latitudes, hydropower at suitable locations, and biomass on available farmland. The focus in that matter is set to electric power generation by solar technology and wind power, as the example of DESERTEC shows. 130 In this context, the continuing "electrification" of power generation and distribution is designed to achieve efficiency gains and to enable "energy transport" over large distances (intra- and intercontinentally) via highvoltage direct-current power transmission. 131 Moreover, (partially) liberalised electricity markets and currently being established intelligent power network combinations - so-called smart grids - aim to ensure load balancing and optimal electricity distribution. Thus, energy independence will only be gained by means of these spacious and complex electric infrastructures – the so-called supergrids. This additional infrastructure, however, does not only need to be established, but also protected and may therefore become a critical factor. 132 Such an extended and diversified transregional infrastructure for the generation and distribution of power does not only touch on geographical borders of countries and alliances but also on political, economic and cultural systems and is therefore more than merely a technological and economic challenge.It requires a long-term stable economic and (security) policy environment. 130 The Desertec Foundation is an initiative that supports the transmission of solar and wind power from desert and coastal regions to Europe. Other energy sources will be added later. The goal is to achieve a sustainable power supply in EUrope, the Middle East and North-Africa (in short: EU-MENA). 131 These "new grids" include further decentralisation of energy supply, for example via cogeneration of electricity and heat. 132 Moreover, in case of a massive expansion of energy infrastructures, other raw materials (such as copper, rare earths, lithium, tantalum, coltan etc.) will be in demand. As these only last for a limited time period and also due to the location of the producer countries, they become "strategic raw materials" which will result in a global competition for their exploitation. Further "peaks" of these raw materials are possible. 48
3.1.4 Intra-societal Risks of Peak Oil Since modern national economies strongly rely on inexpensive fossil raw materials, in particular oil, peak oil would pose considerable challenges to most countries and societies in the event of an incomplete or insufficient post-fossil transformation process. These challenges could entail restrictions in the mobility systems, interruptions in economic structures as well as an erosion of confidence in state institutions. Restrictions in private and goods transportation Given that no sufficient alternatives on the basis of regenerative energy sources have been established for transportation, peak oil is likely to cause a substantial rise in costs and possibly huge restrictions in motorised private transportation. This would have immediate effects on the functional mechanisms and ways of life of modern industrialised societies. Sudden shortages could be eased with the use of regulatory or voluntary measures ("mobility vouchers", "car-free Sunday" etc.). However, suburban settlement structures in industrialised countries in particular (living in the suburb - working in the city centre) hamper a rapid transformation of private transportation. 133 If the restrictions are considerable, all economic sectors concerned – from the automobile industry through the construction business to tourism – would experience a downturn. The "mobility crisis" could turn into an important new aspect of the economic crisis. An increase in goods transportation costs could also have serious implications. Modern-day international division of labour, which involves global process and goods chains of all kinds of commodities, has largely been made possible by the technological progress in the field of freight traffic (container ships, trucks, cooling systems), which is in essence based on fossil fuels. 134 Compared with local public transport and, in parts, private transportation, the task of sufficiently switching all goods traffic over to alternative energy sources is much more complex with today’s common means of transportation and technology. 135 Mobility on the basis of fossil fuels is therefore likely for a long time to remain a basic requirement of economic cycles that are highly diversified both globally and regionally. Restriction of this mobility would have immediate effects on global division of labour, trade and price structures. A possible consequence would be bottlenecks in the supply of existentially important goods. 133 Cf. Lester B. Brown, Plan B 2.0 Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (New York, 2006), 36f., http://www.earthpolicy.org/images/uploads/book_files/pb2ch02.pdf (accessed on 13 October 2010). 134 There are different views regarding the theory that the maritime transport revolution has caused globalisation due to a considerable decrease in transportation costs Cf. David Jacks, Christopher M. Meissner and Dennis Novy, "Globalisation and the costs of international trade from 1870 to the present", in VOX, August 2008, http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/1545 (accessed on 13 October 2010); Davis S. Jacks and Krishna Pendakur, Global Trade and the Maritime Transport Revolution, Simon Fraser University, Working Paper (Burnaby, BC, July 2007), http://www.sfu.ca/~djacks/papers/workingpapers/transport.pdf (accessed on 13 October 2010). It is, however, indisputable that oil prices determine transportation costs, in particular when it comes to the transportation of small quantities of goods by land. 135 From a present-day perspective, fully electric trucks are neither ecologically nor economically efficient. An increase in the practice of transporting goods via rail, which per se is electrified, would require the same kind of rail network density as the one that used to exist back in the middle of the 20th century before it was thinned out in favour of goods transportation by road, which is more flexible. What is more, the potential increase in goods transportation is already limited today. Radical expansion of combined traffic, i.e. a combination of rail and road transportation, is not an easy task 49
Page 1 and 2: Armed Forces, Capabilities and Tech
Page 3: Foreword The Bundeswehr Transformat
Page 6 and 7: Frequent questions #1 What Does Pea
Page 8 and 9: 1. Introduction In this first part
Page 10 and 11: production development of oil field
Page 12 and 13: 2. The Importance of Oil 2.1. Oil a
Page 14 and 15: identifies the maintaining of free
Page 16 and 17: utilizable for small non-state grou
Page 18 and 19: and, in turn, on the respective pro
Page 20 and 21: Note: Producer countries as well as
Page 22 and 23: Figure 2: The Overall Potential of
Page 24 and 25: 3. Possible Developments after Glob
Page 26 and 27: demanded resource and (2) by succes
Page 28 and 29: Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) bo
Page 30 and 31: diplomacy and the provision of attr
Page 32 and 33: y bilateral agreements, the intensi
Page 34 and 35: 3.1.2 Changed Distribution of Roles
Page 36 and 37: Figure 4: Variance in the Relation
Page 38 and 39: its fundamental philosophy. 94 As a
Page 40 and 41: 3.1.3 Exploration of Further and Al
Page 42 and 43: Natural gas as an extension of the
Page 44 and 45: With an increasing transfer of nucl
Page 46 and 47: Figure 5: International Land Leases
Page 50 and 51: Food sector uncertainties If nothin
Page 52 and 53: Upheaval in economic structures Sin
Page 54 and 55: marketing and using motor vehicles
Page 56 and 57: 3.2 The Systemic Risk of Exceeding
Page 58 and 59: In the medium term, the global econ
Page 60 and 61: cases, to a collapse. The danger of
Page 62 and 63: Conflicts can arise when the global
Page 64 and 65: constellations, which would be visi
Page 66 and 67: Germany could achieve further diver
Page 68 and 69: 4.2 Shaping Supply Relationships wi
Page 70 and 71: term strategy for the development o
Page 72 and 73: Since conventional oil resources ar
Page 74 and 75: uncertainty of future defence budge
Page 76 and 77: 4.4 Potential for Conflict and Coop
Page 78 and 79: total number of deployed armed forc
Page 80 and 81: 4.5. The Proliferation of Nuclear T
Page 82 and 83: Further issues / need for research:
Page 84 and 85: Non-state actors could also increas
Page 86 and 87: Concentrating energy relations in l
Page 88 and 89: which is connected with mobility an
Page 90 and 91: Further issues / need for research:
Page 92 and 93: The development of an external ener
Page 94 and 95: Frequent questions #1 What Does Pea
Page 96 and 97: and that there will therefore be no
Page 98 and 99:
#2 How Do Critics Argue against Pea
Page 100 and 101:
Table 2: Predictions regarding deve
Page 102 and 103:
#3 What Types of Resources are ther
Page 104 and 105:
#4 What is the Difference between C
Page 106 and 107:
#6 How Do Oil Refineries Work? The
Page 108 and 109:
#8 Are there Ways for the Bundesweh
Page 110 and 111:
110
Page 112:
Further Peak Oil Task Force Reports
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