The Energy Crisis in Quotes
What the world’s bigwigs have been saying about peak oil, climate change and all things energy related.
2002
2005
2006
2007
2008
“Every family in Britain is aware of the real economic challenges facing our world…Affordable, reliable energy is the bedrock of our economic competitiveness…the battle for energy security will define the fight for Britain's future.”
“When fuel goes from 13 per cent of your costs to 40 per cent in seven years, you simply cannot continue to do business in the same way. Fundamental change is needed.”
“We’re going to have to grow more of our food closer to home. The age of the 3,000-mile Caesar salad is over.”
"There is a huge global grab for energy going on, we've got to make sure that Britain is protected; that we have the energy we need."
"We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change…Our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges – the economic, environmental and national security crises. So today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years."
"It's a strategy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced, and one that will leave our children a world that is cleaner and safer.”
"If the vice president says it's do-able, I believe it's do-able.”
"We must not let concerns over these second-order factors [speculative trading and a weak dollar] distract us from focusing our attention on the root cause of dramatic increases in price - a growing gap between the world's desire to consume oil and its capacity to produce it."
"Every time we lift our feet off the accelerator, we are improving GDP and employment. The era of cheap energy has passed."
“This is not something that's going to give consumers short-term relief and it is not a long-term solution to our problems with fossil fuels generally and oil in particular.”
"Despite what President Bush, John McCain and their friends in the oil industry claim, we cannot drill our way out of this problem. The math is simple: America has just three percent of the world's oil reserves, but Americans use a quarter of its oil."
"I do believe we have peaked out at 85 million barrels a day globally."
"We can call it an `oil crisis' given the current price, and that it continues to climb even after global efforts to cut consumption. We see a critical, structural issue in the global oil market, where supply growth isn't catching up with demand."
"The defining feature of global energy markets remains high and volatile prices, reflecting a tight balance of supply and demand. These have put issues such as energy security and alternative energies at the forefront of the political agenda worldwide."
“As fuel rises, all ferry operators are threatened with major change. Whether they have a life or not depends on the customer’s willingness to pay.”
'"With brutal efficiency, the oil price is beginning to duff up a monster of the 20th century: globalisation…The extraordinary rise in the price of crude oil is wrecking outsourced business models everywhere…Whether you are selling coiled steel or cut flowers, the cost of transport is a problem."'
“Offshore wind is a 21st-century, frontier technology that can deliver clean electricity to every home in Britain and secure our energy supplies for years to come. Our country could be the Saudi Arabia of offshore wind...”
“The cause of rising prices is clear: growing demand and too little supply to meet it both now and - perhaps of even greater significance - in the future… Every country must find ways of being more efficient and diversifying supply. And as continuing high oil prices present us all with an immense challenge, the way we confront these issues will define our era… So our goal that Britain becomes a low-carbon economy is now an economic priority as well as an environmental imperative.”
"At a stroke, Steven's Croft more than doubles Scotland's biomass electricity generating capacity from 39 to 83 megawatts. It is proof that not only can we generate power from materials previously seen as waste, we can create good quality jobs and improve the sustainable management of our forests. The power plant will produce enough green energy, from the surrounding forests, to supply up to 70,000 homes - more than 17 times the population of Lockerbie…Scotland's renewable potential is immense - enough to meet our energy requirements many times over. Biomass is a growing component of the mix. Steven's Croft power station is a great showcase for the role biomass can play in a cleaner, greener Scotland."
“Apart from global warming, in about four or five years’ time there’s going to be more demand for fuel than there is fuel on this planet. So fuel prices will go through the roof and so planes, ships – we’ve all got to come up with alternatives.”
"We will be looking afresh at microgeneration, and any proposals to boost microgeneration, including a feed-in tariff, are ones we are open to consider."
"It is not only a matter of demand. It is not only a matter of supply…We need to take steps on both fronts, and we need to start today. Given the long lead times of at least five to ten years from discovery to production, an oil crisis is coming and sooner than most people think. Unfortunately, we are behaving in ways that suggest we do not know there is a serious problem…It is imperative that we change our mindset, our sense of urgency, or the consequences will be severe… Each of us has the responsibility to act in the long-term global interest rather than short-term self interest so that we leave a more secure world for future generations. Resolving this issue through greater global collaboration can be a model for managing other future shortages, such as water, and benefit the global community. The more interdependent we are, the greater our chances of having a sustainable future together.”
“All in all, the likelihood of the lights going out in Europe at some point over the next 20 years has never been greater.”
"We've never been at a point in commodities where we are today…Markets are as tight as a drum and now the US has hit the stimulus button. We have never seen this before when commodity prices were already at record highs. Over the next 18 to 36 months we are probably going into crisis mode across the commodity complex…The political environment is extremely hostile. The world is looking like the 17th century under mercantilism when countries saw economics as a zero-sum game. They exported as much as they could to get gold, and erected enormous barriers. China looks like that, so does Russia, the Mid-East and most of Africa and Latin America.”
“Shell estimates that after 2015 supplies of easy-to-access oil and gas will no longer keep up with demand.”