Peak oil, your about 30 years to late. We reached the point of no return in the 1970's, not now. You can argue about that, but it won't matter Things should have been done back then, its too late now. Governments know this, thats why we have the situation we have world wide and why the US is rapidly trying to take control of oil reserves. Its also why Howard and Blair are following the US blindly, they think that the US will take control of world fossil energy supplies and only provide its closet friends and allies. Heres a good read.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12381.htm]

We have all the technology we need, we don't need R&D, its been done. All you have to do is purchase some solar equipment, and convert you vehicles to ethanol biodiesel or natural gas yourself and your away. We've done it, we use biodiesel, ethanol and straight vegetable oil. If you have land, put in a crop of wild radish and you get 48% oil content from the seed. ½ hec, can give you more 1500lts of oil. Either convert it to biodiesel or us it straight with a pre-heater. I put 25% ethanol in my V6 camry and it has made no difference, its been running on this for the last 2 years and saves me heaps. You may find that in Brazil many vehicles run an pure ethanol with a simple conversion, they also use large amounts of biodiesel as SVO.

Anyone that waits for the government to do something, is a fool, considering how on top they are of the transport, health and most other aspects of social responsibility, shows you what will happen. We could be a net exporter of biofuels and associated technologies. The new solar cubes are the way to go for those outside urban areas.

No one will force the issue, because we are now a society of, its not my responsibility, its someone else's.

My younger brother has a PhD in laser physics. After several years post-doctoral research in California he returned to Australia, turning his back on a beckoning academic career in the US. He has nearly completed a Dip Ed and is working as a maths/science teacher. He is an enthusiastic teacher and the country, frankly, is the richer for his efforts. That doesn't mean that higher education and research wouldn't be a better place for his talents.

Australian academia offered dismal prospects, no tenured positions and years of scratching together research funds. He was also hobbled in his career choices by his unwillingness to work on military research. Secondary teaching at least offers a steady income.

Another friend who worked in medical research, spent months every year "unemployed" while waiting for grant funding (for which he had written the applications) to come through. I wouldn't encourage anyone into research in Australia, not if they want to buy a house, raise a family etc.

Alchemist,

“Peak oil, your about 30 years to late. We reached the point of no return in the 1970's, not now. You can argue about that, but it won't matter. Things should have been done back then, its too late now.”

It IS too late to avoid massive societal change, but it isn’t too late to make the transition relatively smooth. We desperately need a major governmental effort on how best to bring our knowledge on alternative fuels together into the best strategy. Whether you want to call this R&D or not is irrelevant. The fact is, THE most urgent thing in Australia right now is to do this. Otherwise we may well find things getting totally out of control.

When I say that the very fabric of society could unravel, I am not kidding nor overstating it. When we stop and think about the enormous reliance we have on fossil fuels, then we can pretty quickly realise that this sort of scenario is very real.

I said on another thread that there is the most enormous political opportunity here. If only Labor would see fit to devote themselves to the peak oil crisis, and thus set themselves up as a very different alternative to the incumbents, then they would be a shoe-in at the next election, if they put their hearts into it. For as long as they basically toe the same ideology as Howard, they will stay in the wilderness….and the country will continue its slide into misery.

“We have all the technology we need”.

Maybe so. But we sure as hell don’t have an exit strategy for the oil era.

“Anyone that waits for the government to do something, is a fool.”

Yes. So let’s get into some really serious lobbying…. and make it happen.

"No one will force the issue, because we are now a society of, its not my responsibility, its someone else's."

The alchemist: Spot on, and this is something that doesn't just apply to the topic at hand (it could be said to apply to education in a broader sense, health, aged care and pensions, negative population growth, the environment, you name it). Unfortunately, I think the way of things in this country will be that anyone who does try to take responsibility will eventually be penalised when the chickens come home to roost for everyone else. We live in a society of envy where the tall poppy syndrome is the law of the land.

Ludwig: I don't think it's in the interests of any politician or political party to try to promote policies for the long term. Naturally, most such policies may be a bitter pill to swallow, especially in the short term. Most people simply won't ever want to swallow such a pill. I think the old cliche holds true: people get the governments they deserve. If our politicians lack vision it's only because the populace lacks vision.