Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Peak oil in politics

I've just discovered that the UK has an All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas, with twenty MPs and one Lord participating. It was set up in 2007 and has just released a report recommending a form of energy rationing, called Tradable Energy Quotas (TEQs) (here is Jeremy's summary of the idea) to be introduced within the next ten years.

Finding equitable and workable ways to reduce energy consumption is an important component of responding well to our present situation through a planned energy descent. I haven't had a chance to chase up this suggestion in detail but the outline looks promising.

After being ridiculed for more than a decade, the idea of peak oil continues to become mainstream.