By Nic Rivers, Ottawa Citizen, December 12, 2014
The price of oil has fallen by almost half in the last six months. This affects
both our transport choices as well as investments in oil extraction, so it is
difficult to pin down exactly what the effect is on greenhouse gas emissions.
World leaders met in Lima this week to negotiate an agreement on climate change;
it is important to consider what effect the major slump in world oil prices over
the last six months has on the environment. Recent history provides some clues.
The long surge in the price of crude oil from around $20 per barrel at the
beginning of the millennium to a high of almost $150 per barrel in 2008 brought
about fundamental changes in energy markets. Car companies made significant
investments in alternative drive trains, such that fuel-sipping hybrid vehicles
now make up a small but growing share of vehicles, and such that the fuel
efficiency of the entire new vehicle stock is poised to reach double today’s
level within a decade. Last year, Tesla’s elegant new sedan was the first ever
electric vehicle to be universally praised as the car of the year, and a wave of
similar vehicles from other companies is likely to carve out an important niche
in the car market of tomorrow. via
Nic Rivers: Are low oil prices good for the environment? | Ottawa Citizen.