This is a video of a talk that Tsvi Bisk gave at IBM Israel’s “Smarter Planet” venue in Petah Tikvah on October 12th 2010. It was entitled: The Economic Opportunities of the “Peak Availability of Cheap Oil”. Tsvi outlines why the expected tremendous rise in the cost of energy in general and transportation fuels in particular over the next decade is inevitable:
1) The massive growth of the global middle class
2) The increased domestic use of oil by the oil exporters will decrease the amount of oil available for export.
3) EROEI — “Energy Return on Energy Invested” refers to the increased amount of energy it takes to produce energy and thus decreased availability of energy. In 1900 it took one barrel of oil equivalent of energy to produce 100 barrels of oil – today it takes one barrel to produce 10 barrels (and this is still falling)
Tsvi explains how Israeli start ups as well as legacy companies (in IT, agricultural technology, water management, clean-tech etc.) might be able to take advantage of these developments and create a dynamic new export sector for Israel’s economy.
