"BigGav" The Ecologist has an article on the future of energy, including an interesting graph of EROEI - The future of energy is renewable.
Today, admittedly, fossil fuels remain cheaper than most renewable sources, but in a decade that won’t be the case, as the costs per unit of renewable energy are fixed – the sun always shines, the wind always blows, the tide always turns and once the technology is installed, it requires maintenance alone. Conversely, the costs of fossil fuel and uranium over the next 30 years will be inherently volatile as supplies run out. To stand the faintest hope of controlling our destiny and preserving the lifestyle choices we enjoy today we have to end our reliance on fossil fuels. Contrary to popular myth, it is the pursuit of some kind of hybrid fossil fuel future that will return us to the cave, not the pursuit of a renewable energy future.
Undoubtedly, the switch to renewable energy will slow growth but the impact will be negligible compared to what we can expect if we crash into recession as a result of inflationary pressures arising from fuel scarcity, or suffer climate shocks of which the floods in Tewkesbury were just a foretaste. The impact of these converging crises is already emerging in the form of higher fuel prices, higher food prices and higher insurance premiums.
