Re: Ottawa tries to prepare for day when world runs out of oil, Feb. 10.
Reading Kristen Everson’s article about the Ottawa-Gatineau Peak Oil Forum, I can’t tell if only she or also the event participants know nothing about the status and availability of subsitutes for oil.
Major car manufacturers in North America today are building minivans that will run on 85 per cent ethanol.
That’s like reducing gasoline consumption to 15 percent of present levels. Oh, yeah, and when made using an enzymatic process, ethanol is greenhouse gas neutral.
People will still be able to commute from the suburbs in minvans. Its not a question of getting fuel, its a question of how much it will cost.
Even ethanol won’t be as expensive as gas already is in western Europe today.
During the Second World War, Swedes dealt with gas shortages by bolting on a trailer behind their cars. It carried a wood gasification unit that fed the car’s engine. Cumbersome, but it worked.
There are all kinds of low-tech solutions that have been waiting in the wings for years. Let’s cut the belt-tightening deprivation crap.

Dave Hoffman,
Ottawa