29 March 2011

Does Canberra need a peak oil strategy?

| johnboy
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Inveterate bandwagon jumper Caroline Le Couteur has called for the ACT Government to develop a peak oil strategy.

“It’s incredible that there is not a single reference to ‘peak oil’ in any of the Government’s major planning, transport, infrastructure or climate change plans”, said Caroline Le Couteur.“The Canberra Liberals confirmed their credentials as fossil fuel fossils – indicating that they don’t believe that oil is finite. This puts them on the ultra-conservative fringe and shows that they have no plan to prepare our city for the future.“Canberra is highly vulnerable to peak oil. We’re talking about problems like decreased mobility, disruptions to the supply chain, cost of living increases, disruptions to government services, and significant impacts on residents in Canberra’s outer suburbs, who are highly vulnerable to high fuel prices.

“Preparing Canberra for peak oil will be a great test for political parties who claim to be concerned about cost of living pressures. If we do nothing now, we will condemn Canberrans to massively rising costs and severely decreased mobility.

”The Greens are calling on the ACT Government to immediately develop an ACT plan to respond to the challenge of peak oil and ensure Canberra can become a thriving, resilient and sustainable community when we no longer rely on oil.

“The solutions are obvious to Governments with the courage to take them, and they require commitments to a first class public transport system, leadership in sustainable planning, and a new focus on local production, especially food production.

“Peak oil also presents an opportunity to remodel our city into one that is resilient, sustainable, affordable, well planned, and easy to travel around. That is the Greens’ vision,” Ms Le Couteur said.

My suspicion is that as oil becomes more expensive alternatives will be used, electric cars springing to mind, but also coal conversion at certain price points if there is no carbon price.

But perhaps Government should be thinking though what they’re going to do with their bus fleet if the price of oil will indeed keep rising?

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Holden Caulfield2:49 pm 30 Mar 11

shadow boxer said :

It doesn’t need to be infinite it just needs to last until we find something else as cheap, 100 ears should do it.

Friends, Romans…

shadow boxer1:23 pm 30 Mar 11

D2 said :

housebound said :

D2 said :

“The Canberra Liberals confirmed their credentials as fossil fuel fossils – indicating that they don’t believe that oil is finite.”

Oh, lawdy. If that’s true, we’re in more trouble than we think we are.

The issue isn’t how much oil isleft, but the economic and environmental cost of extracting it!

(So that essentially makes economic oil finite … details)

Indeedy doodley.

The horror is that these morons believe that any resouce, let alone something like oil, could ever be infinite – economically or literally. That’s if, indeed, the report is true. It would certainly fit in with their leader’s belief in fairies.

It doesn’t need to be infinite it just needs to last until we find something else as cheap, 100 ears should do it.

housebound said :

D2 said :

“The Canberra Liberals confirmed their credentials as fossil fuel fossils – indicating that they don’t believe that oil is finite.”

Oh, lawdy. If that’s true, we’re in more trouble than we think we are.

The issue isn’t how much oil isleft, but the economic and environmental cost of extracting it!

(So that essentially makes economic oil finite … details)

Indeedy doodley.

The horror is that these morons believe that any resouce, let alone something like oil, could ever be infinite – economically or literally. That’s if, indeed, the report is true. It would certainly fit in with their leader’s belief in fairies.

georgesgenitals12:37 pm 30 Mar 11

Pommy bastard said :

”The Greens are calling on the ACT Government to immediately develop an ACT plan to respond to the challenge of peak oil and ensure Canberra can become a thriving, resilient and sustainable community when we no longer rely on oil.

And everything in the garden will be rosy, unicorns will return to Tidbinbilla, the mung bean will become the principle unit of currency, the thriving organic dream-catcher knitting industry will keep us solvent, and every disabled lesbian single parent will have a holistic part time job in the Reki counselling field, Canberra will be organised along non-dicriminatory GLTGTS friendly feminist hierarchical structures and rainbows will fill the skies.

Yeah, and those angry short-haired chicks at Tilly’s will stop glaring at me…

D2 said :

“The Canberra Liberals confirmed their credentials as fossil fuel fossils – indicating that they don’t believe that oil is finite.”

Oh, lawdy. If that’s true, we’re in more trouble than we think we are.

The issue isn’t how much oil isleft, but the economic and environmental cost of extracting it!

(So that essentially makes economic oil finite … details)

Holden Caulfield11:41 am 30 Mar 11

Isn’t it a bit late for a peak oil strategy – I recall being told we have already passed peak oil and that we’re now on the downhill run.

Pommy bastard11:05 am 30 Mar 11

”The Greens are calling on the ACT Government to immediately develop an ACT plan to respond to the challenge of peak oil and ensure Canberra can become a thriving, resilient and sustainable community when we no longer rely on oil.

And everything in the garden will be rosy, unicorns will return to Tidbinbilla, the mung bean will become the principle unit of currency, the thriving organic dream-catcher knitting industry will keep us solvent, and every disabled lesbian single parent will have a holistic part time job in the Reki counselling field, Canberra will be organised along non-dicriminatory GLTGTS friendly feminist hierarchical structures and rainbows will fill the skies.

FFS, we can’t even build a bridge, run a juvenile detention centre or build a decent road extension.

+1

When is the next election??? Or can we get rid of these idiots with an Egyptian type coup??? How does releasing something as stupid as this justify the payrise for these nongs.

That would have to be one of the nuttier political press releases I’ve seen in a while.

“The Canberra Liberals confirmed their credentials as fossil fuel fossils – indicating that they don’t believe that oil is finite.”

Oh, lawdy. If that’s true, we’re in more trouble than we think we are.

Captain RAAF8:27 am 30 Mar 11

Excellent, and while your at it I want to see an ACT policy on whaling in the southern ocean, the future of the Patagonian Toothfish, the continued destruction of the Amazonian rainforests and why Milo goes hard in the tin if you don’t use it quick enough.

georgesgenitals7:29 am 30 Mar 11

breda said :

Caroline, if and when the ACT government can deliver basic services, and run a budget not dependent on property speculation for revenue, and manage planning sensibly … well you get the drift.

Nail on the head. +1.

Nothing like a quick search as a basis for a press release.

Peak oil really isn’t just a matter of “well if petrol gets more expensive, I’ll just drive less”. People need to realise that pretty much everything uses oil in its production. Anything made of plastic, medicines, computers, food, fertilisers, and of course just about anything that is transported by land, air or sea all use oil. It wont just be petrol that will rise in price, it will be pretty much everything, and this is the crux of the peak oil problem.

My suspicion is that as oil becomes more expensive alternatives will be used, electric cars springing to mind, but also coal conversion at certain price points if there is no carbon price.

Absolutely, that is economic fact. You can also extract oil from tar sands, oil shale and old car tyres if you want to, albeit at great expense. The fact that oil is expensive enough to make expensive alternatives viable doesn’t change the fact that oil is still expensive.

As far as the ACTION bus fleet is concerned, yes increasing fuel prices will make buses more expensive to run, but in terms of fuel used per passenger km, they are still by far the most efficient fossil fuel powered vehicles in Canberra.

Oh, Lord, she’s like that nutter in Marrickville who thought that local council needed a policy on Israel.

Caroline, if and when the ACT government can deliver basic services, and run a budget not dependent on property speculation for revenue, and manage planning sensibly … well you get the drift.

Your views on international issues beyond your ken are perhaps interesting to you, but intensely irritating to long suffering taxpayers. Those of us who have been around for a while have put up with more than 30 years of scaremongering about ‘peak oil’, all of which was unfounded. Go away, and just do the job you are being well paid for.

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