Reply #24: On your three points

[GliderGuider]

1. Increasing demand for a scarce, finite resource is what's driving the price of oil right now. Getting rid of any speculation premium wouldn't affect the underlying fundamentals. If we were able to drop the price 50% by getting rid of the speculators I wonder how long it would take for oil to double back to its present price? A year maybe, like it did last year?

2. Can these saviour technologies be put in place fast enough? What if oil were to go to $400 within 2 years as shown below? Or even $250? How would that impact the rollout of these technologies, or their profitability?



3. When people are faced with the possibility of running out of energy, battling climate change takes a back seat. This happened in Bangladesh when they were discussing natural gas shortages and came under intense pressure to move to coal. Will people still voluntarily cut their consumption when oil is suddenly cheap again? All conceits to the contrary, people are not rational creatures. High fuel prices spurred conservation and efficiency in Europe, for example, not some rational appreciation of the greater good.

Of course much of the discussion on this thread is moot, because the price of oil is not being driven by speculators. See point 1.