Oghamsourcing Articles

Peak Oil – fact or fiction?

I seems to me that the jury is out when it comes to peak oil. What is peak oil I hear you say? Well, according to Terrapass.com Peak Oil ” refers to the notion that at some point in the future we will reach a peak in the rate at which we can pump oil out of the ground. Regardless of the size of the world’s remaining oil reserves, limits exist to the speed with which we can actually extract the liquid from the rock. Once we hit that peak, daily production rates will decline gradually over time.” So, that seems logical enough, Fossil Fuels are a finite resource, so one would expect that at some stage (in the past, present or future) this would kick in. There are varying opinions about when exactly this peak will happen, and some would claim that vested interests determine when that date was/is/will be. For instance, some claim it’s happened already, these might be the environmentalists who are interested in getting people to reduce their fossil fuel consumption. Others will claim that there are still huge quantities of untapped fossil fuel resources, that current technology hasn’t been able to make it economically viable to extract this oil yet, but at technology improves these untapped resources will keep us going for many many years.
Now I suppose the bottom line is that oil has to run out as some stage, -although one school of thought – the abiogenic theorists – who claim that oil is constantly regenerating …. so what are the likely impacts.
Well the first is that as supply decreases quicker than demand does, we can probably expect prices to increase, some say significantly. In addition, it is likely that producer counties will want to protect their own oil supplies to the detriment of non producer countries.
So, on the basis that this fossil fuel will run out at some point, what can we do to mitigate against its arrival and its effects?
Well, to my mind there are a couple of things we all can do as citizens, and as corporate entities:
1. We can reduce our consumption of fossil fuels by walking to the shop instead of driving, or by turning down the thermostat by one degree. I know you might argue that that’s not likely to have any significant impact, but if everyone does a little it will have a very significant impact indeed. Also by using low energy lighting products.
2. Reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Obviously this needs to work on a number of levels; At the macro level, the first is that countries that are dependent on fossil fuels as we are in Ireland, need to invest significantly in Renewable Energy, primarily Wind and Wave. At the micro level, Homes and Farms and other businesses can invest in Wind and Solar Energy to reduce their dependence (and outlay) on Fossil Fuels. Ogham Sourcing Ltd, with it’s head office in Cork Ireland, and a permanent office in Shenzhen, China has sources for Wind Turbines and Solar Panels, and are looking for businesses who want to get into the area of renewables in terms of sales and installations. We are also working closely with Ecolight Ltd. who supply a wide range of Low Energy LED Lighting to Businesses in Ireland.

So…. it looks like peak oil is coming down the tracks, if it hasn’t already arrived, and higher fossil fuel costs in the future appear to be inevitable. The best ways to reduce the impact on you and your business is to make the changes to reduce your dependence.