A plan for phasing-out oil

'The Stone Age did not end because Cavemen ran out of stone'
Sheik Yamahni

Sooner or later we must learn to live without oil, but despite the finiteness of oil, this is not the main reason why we should phase it out. Oil s the cause of many eonomic and social problems that may not be related to its finiteness. These problems are the recurring crises arising from the instability of prices and quantities available, an instability that effectively sabotages any period of economic growth .

Even considering that the end of oil is still far away in the future and even ignoring the effects of oil on the concentration of wealth on this planet, the sole effects of supply instability is more than enough to justify the claim that society as a whole, is interested in not depending on oil.

John Kenneth Galbraith usued to say that "sometimes, the reason why we can't see the invisible hand is because it isn't there." In fact, there are theories to explain why we still depend on such an undependable resource. From the inertia of oil markets to the vested interests of oil companies, from lack of planning and coordination to a scale deficiency in renewable energies that fail to grow to critical size... Theories aside, the reality is that 35 years after the first oil shock (1973) soaring oil prices continue to have the same devastating effects on our economies. As citizens, we need to DO something about it and we must do it on purpose.

In the absence of a 'pure' market solution for our energy problem, and given the severity of the economic consequences of Europe's dependence on oil, it is imperative that "energy change" be planned and implemented at European level and coordinated at public level. It is a strategic imperative. Since the "energy change" is a trans-national trans-sectoral process the EU is, rather than member states, the adequate locus for this policy.

We should therefore propose to the European Union a plan for the phasing-out of oil as an energy source, a "plan" which must be scheduled, targeted and must involve the main agents that energy change will inevitably involve.