The Energy Trap

Do the Math: "We could use any number for the decline rate in our analysis, but I’ll actually soften the effect to a 2% annual decline to illustrate that we run into problems even at a modest rate of decline. By itself, a 2% decline year after year—while sounding mild—would send our growth-based economy into a tailspin. As detailed in a previous post, across-the-board efficiency improvements cannot tread water against a rate as high as 2% per year. As we’ll see next, the Energy Trap just makes things worse."

The curse of low-priced oil

Samuel Alexander: "The cheaper it is, the more it costs."
http://simplicityinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/The-Paradox-of-Oil-Samuel-Alexander.pdf