BIKE: Snip from Matt Simmons interview

[Roger Baker]

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?2574

"... Oil demand is rising, and there seems to be this serene  
assumption that we can meet this rising demand with a diminishing  
supply. What do you think are the implications for a post-oil peak  
world?

It's going to be one of two courses and there's not a lot of middle  
ground. It can easily be one of the really awful events that have  
ever happened to the world. And that is probably where we're headed  
today; it's the most likely course. Or we can come to the recognition  
that we now need to go on a war footing. It's like we're drifting to  
the end of 1938 with war clouds all over the horizon. And if we can  
conduct some intense analysis of where we actually are with the  
world's oil supply, we'll realize that what we have is a very scarce  
and invaluable resource. Maybe if we had good, scientific data people  
won't get quite as pessimistic and angry when the price starts to soar.

Do you foresee a hydrogen-based energy economy being ready to take  
over when the oil runs out?

Nope. The problem with a hydrogen-based energy economy is that we  
need fuel-cell technology that we don't have yet, and we need a  
primary form of energy to extract hydrogen, and that's in scarce  
supply. So it actually has to be a far more basic sort of overhaul. I  
think, for instance, that we have to get our freight business off the  
roads and back onto rail. That would be five to 10 times more energy  
efficient. Tearing up our rail network was just a tremendous mistake,  
but luckily we didn't do away with the right-of-ways. Over a five- 
year period of time we could go on a crash course and we could  
basically take the existing right-of-ways and build a super  
generation of railroads. And get all the goods that now travel on  
highways onto rails. By getting rid of truck traffic, we would also  
do an enormous amount to alleviate traffic congestion. And traffic  
congestion is public enemy one through five of passenger car  
efficiency..."