A dynamical environment
There is again a great diversity of articles and subjects in this Update on the dynamics and developments of the global energy-industry:
- We can learn of new partnerships arising in Latin America, in Africa, in the Middle East, on the borders of Europe and Russia/CIS as well as in Asia.
- We can read about new interferences in national and regional energy policies in almost all these regions as well, in which often freedom and sovereignty seem matters of another planet.
- It can be read that we do not only have peak oil and peak gas but it seems that peak coal is by far not as far away as always has been thought. New and independent research has brought down the amount of useable coal in an alarming way, which may have devastating influence on the energy-security of some of the greatest energy-users of the planet.
- There is much wrangling going on around pipelines in which often that which is best for a nation is not determined by the nation itself but by foreign politics of far-away countries.
- And whilst it is only mentioned once it is a signal for the future: food-prices are rising due to diverting away food-crops as fuel crops. We may read about this more in the years to come.
Somehow there is a sense coming up of a huge imbalance between what is being projected for the future in energy and energy usage and the reality of what will be available and what will be possible. Politics play an ever greater role in the matter, project-coordination seems lacking and is already resulting in bottlenecks in workforce and especially material and steel, in which price-speculation drives up costs to astronomical figures and in general much is being driven by projections and economics that often seem rooted in ancient times.
It may be time to start thinking about different economic models that will need to be based in the reality of the future rather than the greed of yesterday.
Interesting times are coming.
Alexander
