Energy Policy and the Global Economy Without Essay

Energy Policy and the Global Economy

Without question, climate change is having a profound impact on the global economy. Evidence is mounting within increasing intensity to suggest that the patterns of climate and weather are shifting and that these shifts are likely the consequence of manmade hazards. In no small part, the negative impact of global industrialization is reaping considerable environmental consequences and, by no small irony, these same consequences will have a direct impact on global industries. Most specifically, the rate of human energy consumption -- with all its attendant financial costs -- has increased exponentially in recent years. And in light of the heating of our atmosphere, this consumption threatens only to increase with time. According to Chinn (2013), "occurrences of summer temperatures more than 3 standard deviations above the mean, which were extremely rare before 1980, occurred an order of magnitude more frequently in the 2000s and covered between 4% and 13% of the world between 2006 and 2011." (p. 1)

This is an alarming resolution with respect to the heavy economic toll of rising energy prices. Though the pace of inflation in recent years has slowed modestly, the peak oil crisis threatens to magnify the impact of climate change. As the article by Whipple (2013) warns, we are approaching a tipping point where the slowing of oil production due to diminishing availability will come into conflict with continually rising demand and consumption. As the lifeblood of the global economy, oil is a resource upon which we have become wholly dependent. But As Whipple reports, "Production from existing oil fields is declining by 4-5% annually and demand is increasing by about a million b/d each year. To keep the lid on costs, the world will have to come up with 5 million b/d of new oil production each year for the foreseeable future." (p. 1)

This means that we are facing a danger of catastrophic economic…