2008 Peak Oil Report
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The 2008 Peak Oil Report can be downloaded here.
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Recommendations from the 2008 Report
National
We call on the UK government, and other companies operating in the UK market, to join us in an effort to appraise the risk from premature peak oil, and plan proactive and reactive strategies - local and national - for facing up to the problem.
A UK national energy plan to deal with the peak-oil threat needs to have four core themes. First, exploration for and production of conventional oil and gas needs to be expanded. Second, energy conservation and energy efficiency need to be maximised. Third, investment in renewable energy and sustainable renewable fuels must be accelerated. Fourth, a national skills programme is needed to address the dangerous shortfalls in skills and manpower evident in all areas of the energy industry.
Given the gravity of the risks we have described, there is no time to wait in drawing up and implementing a new national energy mobilization plan. The policy measures in a national energy plan should include, but not be limited to, the following:
Development and implementation of a long term sustainable transport policy, with renewable transport at its heart. This should include measures to increase transport fuelled by sustainable bio-liquids and electricity, and measures to reduce the amount of fossil-fuel-based road transport. If we are to significantly reduce oil consumption, the current measures being proposed in the renewable transport arena must be just the start, and measures well in excess of those proposed will be required.
Policies in the current Renewable Energy Strategy process must go beyond the EU targets for renewable energy (20% of the EU-wide energy mix by 2020). The renewables industry is confident that 100% renewables energy supply is possible in 20-40 years, according to the overwhelming consensus of participants at the Tenth Forum on Sustainable Energy, held in Barcelona in April. They should be given the opportunity to prove it.
Nuclear decisions should be taken rapidly, and government should ensure that uncertainties over the nuclear renaissance should not act as barriers to the mobilization of energy efficiency and renewables. Mass markets will be needed in these technologies whether we have a nuclear segment in the energy mix or not.
International
With urgency to accelerate sustainable energy alternatives. In the meantime any resultant rise in the oil price would itself stimulate greater efficiency and renewables investment.
We urge all governments to combine efforts to deal with oil depletion and climate change in the multi-lateral post-Kyoto climate negotiations, and significantly to improve their level of co-operation in that forum. There is ample scope for the UK government to lead by example domestically in this respect. Such leadership could include ensuring rapid trialing of CCS, and rapid national nuclear decision-making so as to give investors clarity on their energy options. Unconventional oil should not be exploited if its net carbon footprint is higher than that of conventional oil.