Oil prices are currently at very low levels. Why does OPEC keep voting to keep the price down? Basically it is because they are in competition with the burgeoning renewable energy industries of solar, wind and hydrogen. These new technologies are still young and as yet not as efficient as the well established petroleum industry. Low oil prices are a strategic hindrance to the weaning process, keeping us addicted to this dead-end energy source.
The world risks becoming ever more reliant on Middle Eastern oil as lower prices derail efforts by governments to curb demand, the west’s leading energy body has warned. Middle Eastern producers, such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq, now have the biggest share of world oil markets since the Arab fuel embargo of the 1970's.
Demand for their crude has surged amid a collapse in oil prices over the past two years that has cut output from higher-cost producers such as the US, Canada and Brazil.
Demand has surged as prices more than halved following years of trading above $100 a barrel. Efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions were being thwarted as motorists returned to buying fuel-guzzling cars.
This is bad because it hampers the necessary transition to sustainable energy sources like solar, wind and hydrogen. It is inevitable that oil demand will overrun supply at the rate that we consume it. If our infrastructure is not prepared for the switch then we are going to be in some trouble.
It is important for all of us to be aware of our energy budget and continue the slow march toward energy independence with renewable, sustainable energy. Switch your energy consumption to sustainable sources as soon as possible, they are the future!
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