Solar panels and energy crunch forum

At the risk of sounding like a real crank, I feel I must warn those who will listen, so you may prepare.

Protests have been echoing round the globe as the price of oil reaches record high with every passing week. The situation is not about to improve. The worlds largest bankers have suggested the price could easily rise to $200 from our current level of $144 (at the time of writing this), and with this, the US will be plunged into recession.

There is now a realisation that we are now teetering on the edge of an economic catastrophe which could be triggered by a small glitch in the world's oil supply, caused any number of reasons. In the past, it has been possible to ride out any disruption to oil flows by pumping more oil from the ground, but the current situation is this:

We have previously had 15 main oil fields to depend on, now this has depleted to only 4. Yes, we have no plus or minus tolerance zone, no leeway, no room for emergencies or back up supplies.

Everything within our modern lives depends on oil, and now many within the oil industry and Geo science's including myself are starting to realise, we may have already passed or are remarkably close to the peak oil point. This has been laughed at, in the past, but with ever growing demand globally, and two extra super powers to feed (China, India) this peak point has come around alot quicker than was ever thought of even 10 years ago.

It is hard to conceive a world with a limited oil supply, but is now a reality. One way or another, oil is going to become scarce and expensive, leading to inevitable conflict for the remainder.

A final push for a low carbon economy is a must, and I applaud the UK government for taking the lead on this issue, but this is no longer a problem which may go away, and we normality resume, this is a problem which every person on the planet will be affected, and myself and my family will now start to prepare.

Professor Ovately Geologist and Geo-scientist.

My son works on the rigs in the north sea, so we know the situation their. They are finding it harder to extract the reserves and people are starting to get laid off. I should imagine the same will be happening around the globe too, so this all seems remarkably plausible.

Ironically some the lads getting laid off are going into the renewable s and solar panels industry, so maybe the turn around from fossil fuels to low carbon technologies has already begun, admittedly, not through choice but because we have no choice.

Commodities are a proxy for energy, but the days of cheap energy are behind us and this will be soon reflected in inflation and rising prices.

What's not being recognised, is that the upcoming energy crunch or expensive primary energy will make any solution far more expensive, than if it had been planned and executed while supplies where cheap.

It is likely that solar panels will never be cheaper than they are now as future panels will be made and consist of inputs: energy + materials that cost far more.

Why people are, investing in solar panels?

Simply put, the UK energy companies can no longer provide the British public with affordable, reliable energy for much longer.

A new term is born fuel poverty will affect us all, the domestic solar panel generator revolution has begun. With monster UK price rises of Oil, Gas and Electricity in the forthcoming years, a solar panel system will provide more and more cost saving as time goes on, as well as adding up to 10% value to your property. Putting a solar hot water system on your rooftop should be a no-brainer in most UK geographic zones.

1. Impress your neighbours, Be the first, You do not have to be mental to be environmental, but you will make you beam, showing your neighbours you are SMART and Green.

2. Increase your house price, by instlalling solar technology to your home, is the equivalent to building a conservatory, estate agencies are estimating 10-15% to homes with solar than there neighbours.

3. Selling your property, in a century with fuel poverty, homes with solar already installed will be snapped up, quicker, than those without the technology.

4. Britains energy crisis, did you know, 80% of British electric and gas supplies will have to come from Russia, leaving the biggest national security threat since the cold war. Our politicians will have no choice but to give in to Russias demands this century.

5. A massive energy gap coming, as our own Gas supplies run out, and we become more and more dependent on Russia.

Fuel poverty will be a reality for rich and poor.

6. Why not wind, in a nutshell, you have a guaranteed set amount of daylight hours per year, to harness solar, but winds are far more hit and miss.

7. The technology, or solar technologies has improved vastly over the last 10 years, especially the affordable SMART award winning hot water solar panel, with greater and greater efficiency and 30+ year life spans.

8. British climate change, we have all felt it get warmer, and dryer, so if predictions are correct, over the coming years, you will be seeing a lot of the sunshine.

9. Global warming, your children and grandchildren, need we say anymore.

Did we mention it saves you money?

For those worried about global warming, this is for you.

I must first make clear I am a believer of global heating a not a skeptic. Anyone who has seen earth at night pictures can see that mankind has impacted on our planet in a big way. We are fundamentally changing the co2/oxygen cycles with our technology and deforestation. To quote: "Every action has an equal reaction".

The planet earth has changed a vast deal since humans found a use for oil. That same oil has enabled us to look down on our planet and see our bright lights of civilization. Over the last 20 years, the demand for this oil and the discovery of new sizable oil fields have gone into opposite directions. Peak oil is coming, and it's coming sooner than you think.

The lights of our civilisation will disappear as quickly as they appeared. The golden age of humanity will be over, and nature will reclaim what's hers.

Diesel is now £5 a gallon and rising, so there's no reason for it. Oil speculators are doing what they did last year - forcing up the value of crude oil, which has risen 26% since last xmas. Yet demand has fallen.

This is unsustainable. Tankers are moored off Devon with enough fuel to fill seven million cars and traders are waiting to sell at the highest possible price.

How w power and fuel our cars must change and stop squandering the lives of our young men over oilfields in foreign countries. It is not about climate change anymore it is about energy security.

Sadly we can expect more fuel price rise and it cant be long before we see £6 or £7 per gallon as the norm.

It seems a decent has begun. A physical descent, from the peak of our oil supplies and our squandering of resources, but also a psychological descent from the peak of our comfortable illusions.

Peak oil is the point at which international reserves develop a steady decline causing a increase in energy prices. The worry is that as soon as oil producing nations restrict output or selling to save the last of the reserves for themselves.

Petrol will be £2.00 a Litre before we blink. The Chinese are stockpiling barrels of oil they can find and global oil reserves are dwindling fast.

For anyone who cannot see the wood for the tree's, this is the beginning of a particularly slippery slope oil slope were our cushy lives will become unbearably expensive, and the glue that holds our modern civilisation together is weakening.

There is a book I read recently called 'Last Light'. A piece of fiction about peak oil and it was a marvellous, vivid description of the changes in London when energy is no longer available - the kinds of things that people might well be faced with if something is not done about the energy supply problems fairly soon.

For example, there's a riot at the supermarket when people find out that there's no food left. Scary thought, but a exceptionally entertaining read.