So is there another oil crisis or not? The government, and the motoring organisations, insist that there is not — yet. During the recent Spring bank holiday garages were shut, and those that did open were charging up to £1.50 a gallon for petrol.
So is the motor car doomed? What of alternative energy? Questions like these seem to be commonplace these days, but really, what is the situation?
Demand for petrol is rising at a time when oil companies are saying they can only meet last year’s delivery levels. With Iran going ‘off stream’ and exporting no oil at all for some months, and the oil-producing countries (OPEC) seizing their chance to increase prices by varying amounts (dependent on how ‘moderate’ their governments are), the hopes of British capitalism turn again to the North Sea.
The situation became such that a meeting of energy ministers was called in Paris in May to decide the appropriate action to be taken. This meeting only served to emphasise the problems of trying to get agreement between capitalist countries on something so vital as their access to sources of oil. Its result was a relatively ineffectual statement that a cutback of five per cent would be attempted.
America, which consumes twice as much oil as others, is a prime victim for expected cutbacks. But American workers regard their cars as almost sacrosanct. And politicians rely on motorists’ votes, just as the motor industry relies on a market. So much of the American economy relies on the motor industry that a cutback in oil consumption, at this time, is highly unlikely.
Transition to obsolescence
So where does the problem lie? The capitalist world relies on its oil supplies. Industry and the domestic scene is almost as dependent on oil as we are on the air we breathe and oil is running out! In fact, the oil-powered car was doomed at its outset and has long been living on borrowed time. The internal combustion engine was developed at a time of seemingly unlimited supplies of fuel. It is uneconomic, inefficient, and is now making the hard transition to obsolescence.
The internal combustion engine and its petroleum fuel (with additives) is a major source of modern-day pollution. Lead from exhausts, hydrochloric acid, carbon monoxide, noise, accidents, and so on, are direct sources of pollution. Add to this the indirect sources in associated industries like rubber, steel and chemicals, and some measure of the problem can be imagined. This observation also gives some indication of the capital investment involved. And here is the crux of the matter.
Alternative Fuels
So what is to happen to the motor car? It has become such a necessity to so many people that its withdrawal would cause a major upheaval in society. It has undermined the profitability of so-called public transport, with the result that services have been cut and geared to their profitability rather than usefulness. So, returning to the matter of the motor car, are there alternative fuels and propulsion units?
Hydrogen, electricity, even nuclear fuel, are suggestions. No doubt the motor industry will become even more cut-throat as the oil situation worsens. Some industries will fold up, others will emerge. New technologies will probably result, and slowly and painfully the motor industry will change to a new fuel/propulsion system or transport concept.
This is the standard day to day, year to year running of capitalism. Crisis to crisis. And it is the workers, the majority of people in this world, who suffer. As capitalism survives it will continue to cause hardship, anxiety and stress to the working class. Fuel/propulsion systems, the oil crisis, other industrial/domestic problems, will all come and go, but always as dictated by capitalism’s drive for profit. And this crazy, inefficient, polluting system will last until those workers act to abolish it. Something to think about in the traffic jam — or the queue for the petrol pump.
MJSP
No comments:
Post a Comment