Amanda Griscom Little interviews Ron Paul

@ Grist, via Andrew Sullivan

You mentioned that you don't support subsidies for the development of energy technologies. If all subsidies were removed from the energy sector, what do you think would happen to alternative energy industries like solar, wind, and ethanol?

Whoever can offer the best product at the best price, that's what people will use. They just have to do this without damaging the environment.

If we're running out of hydrocarbon, the price will go up. If we had a crisis tomorrow [that cut our oil supply in half], people would drive half as much -- something would happen immediately. Somebody would come up with alternative fuels rather quickly.

I think Dr. Paul needs to talk to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett about alternate fuels, and the gap between what can be produced and what America's current way of life requires. Would people really drive half as much? Perhaps there would be more carpooling. But people haven't really embraced that option yet.

What role do you think coal should play in America's energy future?

Coal is a source of energy and it should be used, but it has to be used without ever hurting anybody. I think we're smart enough to do it. Technology is improving all the time. If oil goes to $150 a barrel because we've bombed Iran, coal might be something that we can become more independent with. I think technology is super, and we are capable of knowing how to use coal without polluting other people's property.

Switching to coal will make the march towards Peak Coal more rapid.



Via Energy Bulletin:
Experts worry that world oil production may soon peak
Greg Flakus, Voice of America

The age of scarcity industrialism
John Michael Greer, The Archdruid Report

Farming faces phosphate shortfall
Mario Osava, Tierramérica

Economics - Oct 17
Staff, Energy Bulletin
Soaring oil prices have yet to derail economy
Economies adjust as oil heads for $90 a barrel
When oil prices rise, so does just about everything else
Finance Round-Up from TOD:Canada