5 ms·
Non-transport use of oil is only 32%. 9% is for heating and electricity generation, which presumably will also be replaced with batteries or some other improved
by beerlord 8y ago
Non-transport use of oil is only 32%. 9% is for heating and electricity generation, which presumably will also be replaced with batteries or some other improved technology in the long term.
Falling oil demand is great for the planet, since it means lower CO2 emissions, moving pollution from vehicles to centralised power plants (or removing it completely in the case of renewables) rather than at ground level in dense cities, and oil as a finite resource can be used longer for industrial processes for which there are not yet alternatives before we run out.
I think once the West is on its way to being mostly oil and coal free, we will start to see really heavy international action on climate change, because any taxes or penalties introduced for carbon emissions will hurt non-Western countries much more. Already there is immense behind the scenes pressure on developing nations to cut fuel subsidies.
- maxerickson 8y agoSo with the 32%, we can restate the question about the rapid death spiral: Will oil companies choose billions of dollars in profits or will they just stop?
- fpoling 8y agoIf the oil demand drops by 2/3, it will hurt most the expensive oil extraction methods. Meadle East companies will survive as their oil is cheapes. But fracking, tar sands and perhaps sea oil platforms will stop.
- beerlord 8y agoInteresting to note that whilst Saudi Arabia can technically extract oil for $9/barrel, they have a gigantic society to maintain on top of all that oil revenue - requiring $70/barrel to break even.
- baking 8y agoThis seems irrelevant, or at best helping the point of the parent comment. If Saudi society has large fixed costs, then they only need to sell more of their large reserves driving down prices even more and increasing the pain of the high-cost producers.