Posted by admin | Posted in Green Energy | Posted on 02-01-2011
Tags: cheap energy, cheap energy drinks, cheap energy drinks in bulk, cheap energy efficient curtains, cheap energy stocks, diy, energy, environment, solar, technology
Given potential shortages of cheap energy within the next hundred years or so,?
do you think western governments should begin initiatives to limit population growth? I’m a bit worried if we lose our option for cheap energy (plentiful oil), we won’t be able to support such a massive civilization., What do you think?.
No, limiting population growth will do nothing to create cheap energy. In fact, energy demand increases as the number of people living in poverty decreases. Energy use and wealth go hand in hand, but total population isn’t really much of a factor. Unless you advocate dealing with poverty by eliminating the people who are poor instead of hoping they become less poor. In that case, you would be eliminating the people who don’t use much of the scarce resources anyway.
Markets will deal with the shortage of renewable energy sources. This will happen in a number of ways. These methods actually are already underway. It is a slow process that speeds up as the shortage gets closer to a critical stage.
Here are some ways that the markets deal with this:
Oil companies exist to make profits. They drill for oil wherever the costs are cheapest, and spend money on R&D to find more cheap sources, as well as to find cheaper methods. They also spend money petitoning the governments to open up more areas for drilling. These areas are closed for environmental reasons, but as the opportunity costs of drilling increase, the argument for opening up more areas gains acceptance. As the most efficiently extracted oil gets used up, the costs rise, and the prices of oil products rise (the oil companies will have to raise their prices in order to make the increase in costs pay off for them). This will reduce the amount of oil that society will demand, since people will use less at a higher price. This reduction in demand will be relatively small, since oil products (especially gasoline) are considered necessities and the demand is very inelastic (meaning that the quantity demanded won’t change a lot due to a price increase). However, over time, this demand becomes more and more elastic, which brings the situation to another way that markets will deal with this problem.
More efficient uses of energy, such as more fuel-efficient vehicles, are developed and used more as energy costs increase. Alternative energy sources of many types are being developed. This process is very expensive, and so far none has proven to be efficient enough to decrease demand for oil by very much (not counting government subsidies, which don’t lower the costs, they just hide them). But the development of these sources includes research into less expensive sources and methods. The combination of this type of development with higher oil prices will lead to alternative energy being a more efficient alternative to oil over time. In the meantime, the lower use of energy due to higher prices could force some lifestyle changes. But I don’t think that putting limits on population growth in order to preserve (relatively short term, by the way) a specific lifestyle for some would be an effective policy.
I do not believe that the world will ever run completely out of oil. I believe that market forces will find a way to eliminate the demand before the supply is ever eliminated.
water battery. very cheap if not free energy
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