Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

VULNERABILITIES
Of the many services the City provides, among the most critical are: the provision of
potable water, a sanitary sewer system, police and fire protection, and waste removal.
These services are energy intensive. A decline in cheap oil exposes the following
vulnerabilities:
1. Direct Increase in Costs & Price Volatility
As the price of oil both becomes more volatile and more expensive, so will the
price of electricity, natural gas, and
other energy resources. It will
become more expensive for the City
to: treat and pump drinking water,
treat its wastewater, provide fuel for
law enforcement and fire protection,
heat and cool municipal buildings,
and pick up trash and recycling.
2. Indirect Increase in Costs & Price
Volatility
Because energy is embedded in just about everything we do and purchase, it is
expected that the City will also experience an increase in the cost of products in
which oil and oil by‐products are used. Perhaps one of the most severe indirect
impacts will be an increase in the cost of food as the cost of production and
transportation increases.
3. Ever­increasing Energy Shortages and Outages
As the supply of cheap oil continues to drop, we can expect greater oil scarcity
and periods of blackouts and brownouts (when power is reduced). We must
prepare the City’s storage, back‐up generation and primary energy generation
systems for this shift. 51
These vulnerabilities call for a plan that seeks to build resiliency into the City
infrastructure. The aim of this chapter is to map out an “energy descent” plan that meets
the needs of the community efficiently and fairly. As this Report enters the community’s
conversation, it is assumed – and expected – that both the City staff and residents will have
even more ideas about how to plan for peak oil. The intent of this chapter is to get the
conversation started.
Report of the Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force
City Hall
51 These three vulnerabilities are borrowed, in part, from those outlined by the Sebastopol Ad Hoc
Citizens Advisory Group on Energy Vulnerability, Charting a Path for a New Energy Future for Sebastopol (2007).
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