Oil prices reached a record high in July this year at $147 barrel; a cost that’s more than doubled within a year. This immediate state of tribulation excludes the standing of the oil companies themselves of course who are collecting record profits. Miles of column inches are dedicated to the detrimental effects most significantly felt in agricultural production and industrial sectors as well as the effects on our world economy and the broad cascading repercussions for consumers. At the crux of this complex predicament however is a very simple equation that accounts for our present world fuel crisis, and it’s a question of demand and supply; demand is at an all time high, so rather than continually questioning the factors relating to the source of our fuel and all the variables concerning the supply of the world’s oil, we should be questioning the demand -less craving a fix and more remedying our addiction. Steps are being made: Gas-guzzling city vehicles are out! People are abandoning their needless four-by-four behemoths in favour of newfangled hybrids as motor companies’ profits on SUVs drop. Beyond that, larger cities will begin to see less congestion as we use public transport, share taxis and cycle more and more. Rising fuel costs forced Northern Foods to announce that prices of processed foods are also on the up, which can only encourage healthier eating. The same effect can be seen for fried foods as cooking oil shoots up in price – more salads in our diet will combat that. With a bit of tinkering, the chip fat that you do use can run your car. Changes in the law last year allow these motorists who use less than 50 litres of chip fat fuel per week, not to pay any tax or duty. The heavy taxation on oil will give the Chancellor of the Exchequer a new opportunity to fleece the long suffering taxpayer of even more money as the revenue stream from petrol will increase by billions of pounds in the future. Incentive to invest in alternative energy sources has never been stronger. Consumers will put more and more pressure on companies to develop affordable renewable energy and we await that elusive breakthrough that reduces the cost of these new energy technologies. Stocks are already rapidly increasing for these companies and with greater pressure on the development of renewable fuels, it is high time we realised that the rising cost of oil is a benefit to our way of life and in the long run must be seen as a blessing that forces our hand towards a change for the better.
Content by: Business Made Simple
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