Tuesday 7 August 2012

Reminder: The New Energy-Economic-EROEI Reality

The brilliant ecologist Charles A.S. Hall gave an ASPO-Webinar recently about 'Peak Oil, Declining EROI and the New Energy-Economic Reaility'. The simplified version of Hall's argument should be easy to understand:

Wealth creation (and it's proxy GDP) is based on energy resources


The growth rate of even wealthiest nations is declining:
Oil is becoming thin on the ground:

Due to increased drilling the EROI of oil production is going down:

This also increases oil prices:

Thus a larger chunk of money AND energy is going into energy production:
....leaving less money & energy for the rest of the economy:

This creates a new world, where the old economic models and policies do not work:



That's it. What else do you need to know? How will you react. This is an ongoing process. You are in it. You can make a choice as to how you will adapt to the new world. It starts with an attitude and education.

If you want to see the whole presentation along with Hall's voice, you can watch the Webinar on Vimeo or if you want the analytical version, you should read Hall's book 'Energy and the Wealth of Nations'.