Yet another take on Hubbert's peak

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sam Pawlett said:
> >
>
> Ok.  I think I've nailed the problem: the energy base of
> capitalism is only
> sustainable as long as technological change and efficiency improvements
> offset the increasing marginal costs associated with exploiting the
> declining quality of the resource base,

((((((((((

CB: Is it the declining quality or the declining quantity of the resource base ?

((((((((




so much so that the marginal costs
> of expanding energy supply may exceed the marginal benefits (once
> environmental factors are factored in.) So, I think, it makes more  sense
> to speak of the end of cheap energy and a transition to costlier
> energy.

This is exactly the discussion we need to have and to which economists can
indeed contribute. And this decline in available energy is an unprecedented
situation in the history of industrial capitalism.

Mark Jones