The U.S. President of Shell, John Hofmeister, is on a 50-city speaking tour to talk about energy. One of his key messages, according to an article in The Oregonian, is that…
“The ease with which we all lived in the last 50 years, with cheap energy, is coming to a close,”…Americans, he said, need to develop a sense of privilege rather than entitlement when it comes to energy use.
When the oil companies indicate easy oil is over, you know it is. This gibes perfectly with something a top oil company exec told me during the interviews for the book — they saw peak oil coming before 2010 (quick explanation: peak oil is when the total production level is at an all-time high…and then goes down. There’s still plenty of oil left, but it’s harder and more expensive to get, and supply cannot be ratcheted up to meet growing demand.)
In short, business better get used to harder to come by energy, and more expensive traditional sources if they don’t innovate away from fossil fuels. The companies that can use less, or find ways to rely on renewables, will find an advantage in the marketplace.
