Don't worry, be profitable.Editor's note Editor's Note (foaled in 1993 in Kentucky) is an American thoroughbred Stallion racehorse. He was sired by 1992 U.S. Champion 2 YO Colt Forty Niner, who in turn was a son of Champion sire Mr. Prospector and out of the mare, Beware Of The Cat. Trained by D. : World Watch's Peak Oil Forum (January/February 2006) generated the strongest reaction from readers since we published "A Challenge to Conservationists" in late 2004. As with that article, passions ran high, as you'll see from the sample of letters printed on the following pages. Many correspondents objected strongly to Vaclav Smil's views, so we have grouped them at the end and included his response. Worldwatch has performed an important service with its Peak Oil Forum, as with its splendid Splendid was a musical duo featuring Angie Hart and Jesse Tobias, who at the time were also husband and wife. History The duo met in Canada, August 1996, when Australian band Frente!, fronted by Hart, arrived to play over two weeks of support dates for Alanis Morissette's Renewables 2005: Global Status Report. Yet two key meta-observations about peak oil are missing. First, nobody can know who's right. The reserves data are a mess, many are sketchy or secret, and 94 percent of reserves belong to governments, which have every incentive to lie about what they have. Second, it doesn't matter who's right, because we should do the same things anyway just to save money, no matter whether oil is scarce or abundant. For example, Winning the Oil Endgame Endgame blind and chair-bound, Hamm learns that nearly everybody has died; his own parents are dying in separate trash cans. [Anglo-Fr. Drama: Beckett Endgame in Weiss, 143] See : Death (free at www.oilendgame.com) provides an independent, peer-reviewed, detailed, transparent, and uncontested roadmap for eliminating U.S. oil use by the 2040s, led by business for profit. This Pentagon-cosponsored study shows that half of U.S. oil use can be saved by efficient use and the rest substituted by saved natural gas and advanced biofuels, at respective average costs (in 2000 dollars) of $12/barrel and $18/barrel. Thus, reducing U.S. oil use to zero will cost (as of 2025, partway part·way adv. Informal To a certain degree or distance; in part: partway to town; not even partway reasonable. through the transition) $70 billion a year less than buying the officially forecast $26/barrel oil, even if all its externalities externalities side-effects, either harmful or beneficial, borne by those not directly involved in the production of a commodity. were zero. Early stages of implementation are showing much promise. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Despite my respect for experts on both sides of the peak-oil debate, both these reasons suggest that it's not a problem meriting much attention. Let's focus instead on implementing the practical solutions that make sense and make money regardless. If we get off oil earlier than we turned out to need to, the worst that can happen is that we'll make more profit sooner. AMORY B. LOVINS Rocky Mountain Institute The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is an organization in the United States dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the general field of sustainability, with a special focus on profitable innovations for energy and resource efficiency. Snowmass, Colorado For other places with the same name, see Snowmass (disambiguation). Snowmass (sometimes known locally as Old Snowmass) is an unincorporated town and a U.S. Post Office located in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. , U.S.A. |
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