So a couple months back I participated in a “game” called world without oil. The idea was that bloggers and citizens from around the world would imagine what it would be like if the world suddenly ran out of oil (or it got really really expensive), Oil broke $101.42 on the futures market recently. . . an historical record, as it broke the adjusted-for-inflation price of oil in the early 1980s. The DOE says that the average price per gallon of gasoline in the U.S. will settle much higher than the record $3.23 high that was reached last May. We are looking at a $3.50 average for gasoline by May, which means that the expensive states (California and New York) will see gas prices well above $4.00. The project is over now and they have released this excellent recap video.
I am a firm believer in the ability of game playing to make the world a better place, and this was for sure a fine example. It also shows that games can be an important tool in getting people ready for the very hard changes that they are going to have to make in their lives.
When oil was this expensive, back in the 1980s, oil producers rushed to find new fields, found them, and the flood of oil caused the price to crash. You can bet this will not happen again. Last year, when gas was this expensive, it was largely because of refinery shortfalls (and rising destabilization and uncertainty about prices), not because of the actual price of oil (oil prices had risen, but gas prices rose further). Now, it’s actually the price of oil that is rising, which sets a floor that prices will not go below. So yeah, it looks like World Without Oil is happening, but slowly, slowly, so as not to wake anyone up.