Today's newspaper is full of stories about the yesterday's EPA ruling:

EPA paves way for broad emission limits

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday declared that industrial greenhouse gases are a danger to human health and well-being, opening the way to broad new regulations to reduce carbon dioxide and other planet-heating gases.

The finding could lead to far-reaching rules that are likely to heavily affect cars and trucks, which account for nearly a quarter of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, and utilities, which are responsible for more than a third.

With this ruling, it seems likely that either through legislation or through EPA action, steps will be taken to require vast investment in technologies to try to limit the various greenhouse gases. Let us think about where the world is headed--does this vast investment make sense or not?

This is a guest post from Garry Glazebrook of UTS (the University of Technology, Sydney).

After listening to Al Gore, Nicholas Stern, Ross Garnaut and Tim Flannery, it is now obvious to most thinking people that we have to address climate change, and soon. It is becoming equally clear that the fall in oil prices over the last few months is only a temporary respite, brought on by a faltering world economy, and that oil prices will likely surge again as soon as the economy recovers. The implication is a need for massive investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable transport. But how to fund such investment without sacrificing our economy, jobs or lifestyles?

Higher energy prices are feeding through to rampant consumer energy price inflation. And yet the authorities and many investment houses still see energy prices falling in the future. This naive view of global energy supplies is starving energy markets of the capital required to expand conventional and alternative energy supplies.

Global annual average natural gas spot prices from the BP statistical review of world energy 2007. Click all charts to enlarge

Seven am breakfasts in O’Hare are not a habit I plan on developing but there was I, for the second day running, at the same table even at Wolfgang Pucks.. But all in a good cause, as I headed off to Houston for ASPO. Going to the hotel - very new and needed, as the cabby proudly told me,– he asked which Convention I was here for (there is an Olympics meeting of some sort down the hall). I explained about Peak Oil and though initially he had not heard about it, he then mentioned a Houston City Council effort to have the cab companies use hybrids. This is now on hold, since it did not appear to be a well-received suggestion. Concerns that he brought up included the small size of the cars, that they were only 4-cylinder and would not stand the wear that a cab life would impose, and that the cabbies, who have to buy the cabs, could not afford the $3,000 to replace the batteries. Apparently the cab companies had suggested that they would comply right after the police Department bought theirs. Talking at an ASPO break about this, apparently Denver are experimenting with the process, but have only just introduced it with a few cabs., and a quick Google shows that a number of cities have already bitten that bullet.

With getting here a little late I walked into the first joint sessions after they had started, and, as with the ASPO in Cork, the atmosphere immediately conveyed that the meeting would be a success. (Though the initial judgment was made because I had to drop my bag and lean against the wall since there were no free seats, and when more were brought they were still not enough). The audience was obviously knowledgeable and the questions were technical, as were the answers. For the first “Workshop” day the sessions were divided, with TOD stalwarts Stuart Staniford and Euan Mearns giving the story of their incredible detective work in, as an audience member put it, developing the story of Saudi oil with virtually none of the resources or computing power of Aramco, and yet coming very close to what has to be the real story. Stuart explained how the numbers that he, and others at TOD, had put together and painted the picture of Ghawar depletion, (which is in the citation so I won’t repeat it) and Euan put this in the broader context of Saudi Arabia in general. Gail Tverberg acted as moderator to the session and the discussion. Perhaps the crux of the issue is that the authors do not think that Saudi Aramco can produce the volumes that they claim for Ghawar since, in part they assume a higher recovery factor that has been historically true for this type of rock, and with around half the production gone, things are not looking all that good. Reference was made in questions to other papers coming in the meeting that will bring further light to the topic, including such a comment from Matt Simmons.