Energy Intelligence 101: Understanding the nature of energy

Sir Isaac Newton gave us the current understanding about energy

Any student of physics will tell you that energy cannot be created or destroyed, which means that there is a fixed amount of energy that is available in the universe and there is nothing that we can do about it.

That may sound like bad news but in reality, the sun releases more energy than the human race can use every day so why is everyone saying that we are facing a serious energy crisis.



Actually what they mean to say is that we are facing an oil crisis, for the past 100 years we have been conditioned to accept oil, gas and coal as the primary sources of energy and the reason for this is quite simple; oil is relatively cheap and can be easily carried to power cars, trucks, aircrafts and all modern transportation.

Oil is basically stored solar energy, it is the energy soaked up by ancient plants and animals that were buried deep under the earth and became oil. In a sense it is concentrated solar energy.

While the human world relies almost exclusively on fossil fuel, the natural world lives entirely on solar energy and many scientists believe that the time has come for us to join the rest of the natural world if we want to continue to enjoy sustained living on this planet.

The crisis is brought into sharp focus in 2008 when oil hit USD150 per barrel and now is trading near the USD100 mark.

Energy experts have long argued about when peak oil will occur. Peak oil is the point in time when oil production will peak and then continue into decline.

Predictions of peak oil range from a few years from now to between 10 and 20 years from now. Although there are those who expect peak oil to occur further in the future, general consensus is that it is on our doorsteps and the world is genuinely unprepared.

The current scramble for Hybrid drivetrains and electric cars is a hint at the inadequacy of our response to the situation.

Alternative fuels at affordable prices are still far from the horizon but if peak oil occurs in the next few years, humans may have no choice but to radically change out lifestyles and the consumer culture that has been developed since the industrial revolution.

As individuals we may not be able to change the way big business is run but everyone has the opportunity to reduce our own energy consumption.

Using energy more efficiently is not only good for the environment but also helps us to reduce our daily costs.

It is the duty of every person to reduce waste because each ounce of waste represents wasted energy in production, transportation and other activities involved in delivering the food or product to your home.

In two weeks time, we will look at how everyone can help reduce energy consumption with simple steps that will not feel like a sacrifice that you cannot bear.

ENERGY LITERACY 101: Would you change your lifestyle if oil hits USD200 per barrel? (That's RM5/litre for petrol)

Mail Motor's theme for 2010 is Cars That Care and this means our editorial will examine wasy that cars and car companies care abotu their occupants, abotu the environment and also society at large. 

Within that context we will begin a series of campaign related to the theme and one of them is ENERGY LITERACY.

We want to promote greater understanding about the use of energy and its impact on the global ecosystem, this is the first in our series of ENERGY LITERACY 101 series which takes a look at the basics of Energy Literacy. This week we examine something quite simple, the cost of energy and our lives.

For the longest time, the cost of energy has not been calculated on a holistic basis, oil companies add all their costs and margin and that is what we pay at the pumps but the energy that we use generally cost more than that.

So here we go

In 2007-2008 we saw some of the biggest fluctuations in oil prices, going way past USD100 for the first time and stayed there for a few months before coming back down to around USD65 per barrel.

To put that into perspective, just a few years earlier oil executives would have laughed at the suggestion of USD50 barrel, at that time oil was struggling to stay at the USD35 barrel mark.

Oil is ending its run at the USD94 barrel mark in 2010 and with the Chinese, Indian and Korean economies steaming on and Asean economies recovering from their sputter demand for black gold is expected to remain strong for 2011 and all the way to 2015.



Some experts predict oil may hit USD200 in the mid term and this is based on predictions of continuing crisis in the usual hot spots plus the decline in the number of new economically feasible finds.

So if oil actually hits USD200 per barrel, which probably means petrol would be hovering near the RM5 per litre mark and a full tank of RON97 in the average family car would set you back RM200 would it force a change in your lifestyle?

For the average family that travels about 60 kilometres per day commuting and/or sending the brood to school, the fuel bill would be about RM100-RM120 per week, assuming you drive a 1.6-litre car or smaller.

If fuel were to rise to RM5 per litre that fuel bill would jump to about RM300 per week.

On a monthly basis, fuel cost would increase from about RM500 per month to RM1200 per month.

That is a substantial increase even for a family that earns RM8,000 per month because the increase would also mean that other necessities would rise in price.

Who can say how much the usual barometer, teh tarik and roti canai would increase in price.

Given this scenario, it is likely that we will be forced to change our lifestyle, how would yours change?