IMHO, this is probably the main issue facing the world today.
Why is it not a national priority to develop alternate fuels?

Via the Queensland Courier mail -

FUEL rationing may be one in a series of shocks facing drivers and commuters in Queensland.

Looming oil shortages would produce the biggest change in society since the industrial revolution, Sustainability Minister Andrew McNamara warned yesterday.

A report by Mr McNamara for state Cabinet on the impact of the fuel crisis is expected to include recommendations on rationing, the future of public and private transport and sustainable population issues.

Drivers face fuel ration shock | The Courier-Mail

Sounds to me like some polititian wants to get there name in the paper and look like they are worth the money they get paid too much of when they are not.
Oz has 22 M people and the US has 304M. oz uses 1% of the worlds oil, the septics use 25% which is roughly twice the amount we use per persons.
Who do you think should be rationed?

Dave if you really think that's the way it will work then you're in for a big shock.

And anyway Australia is one of the highest per capita users of oil and all other fossil fuels, so if you apply that logic then we would be amongst the first to get rationed.

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Sean

Who should be rationed and who will get rationed are different stories.

I can buy more food than I can (or should) eat, however in some parts of the world there is not enough food. The rationing is done by money, unfortunatley its not done fairly or evenly.

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cheers
Chris.
1990 landcruiser 80, 1HD-T two tank, copper pipe HE+ 20 plate FPHE, toyota solenoids and filters. 1978 300D, elsbett one tank system.

I dont know what to make off this ABC report I thought the lessons of the 1970s U.S. oil well peak oil production predictions being roughly correct had some relevance to the rest of the world ?

via - Peak oil a myth, claims geoscientist - 23/07/2008

Peak oil a myth, claims geoscientist

Predictions that oil production will peak in a few years' time and then taper off have been dismissed by a leading geoscientist.

Dr Peter McCabe, from the CSIRO, says predictions of a peak oil phenomenon date back to the 1920s but are no more relevant today than they were then.

Dr Peter McCabe Resume - Dr Peter McCabe: future oil and gas resources for Australia (Resume)

Well I don't know where he got those figures from, but not even the oil companies are that optimistic!

I don't think he understands peak oil. His sums are very simplistic. Peak Oil does not mean we will suddenly run out, it just means the point at which the world can no longer increase production, and it goes in to a gradual decline.

The other thing that always gets me is the phrase "at the current level of world production." The trouble is, demand does not stay the same, it increases all the time so production has to try to keep up. If there is a gap between supply and demand we get the high prices we are seeing at the moment and if production cannot increase to meet the demand we are in effect already at Peak Oil.

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Sean

It is clear that there are a lot of companies that stand to lose money depending on how people's opinions sit on carbon trading, peak oil and even climate change. Hence there is a lot of money being poured into various media streams aimed at fuelling the doubts of people that these things are real and happening.

Exxon has recently admitted that it was one such organisation, but they have now stopped funding such items. Still a while to go for some others...