Cost of energy imports to UK trade balance

[Paul Mobbs]

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An interesting article on The Oil Drum Europe -- given the present debate in 
the media about cuts and spending:


http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/7057

Cost of energy imports to UK trade balance

Posted by Euan Mearns on October 21, 2010


Over the years I have drawn attention to concerns about the impact that peak 
oil (1999) and gas (2000) in the UK North Sea would have on UK trade balance. 
In the space of a decade, the UK has gone from oil and gas exporter to 
importer. In articles such as UK Energy Security (July 2007) and A State of 
Emergency (June 2008) I speculated about the financial cost and in today's 
article I put real numbers on the cost of UK energy imports.

{snip}


For my own take on this see:
http://appgopo.org.uk//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55
- -- or on my site at --
http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/papers/index.shtml#appgopo

With the cuts in public spending there's a lot of talk about the "structural 
deficit". Unfortunately the discussion at present only relates to the 
Government's own structural deficit, not the UK as a whole. The importance of 
the decline of indigenous UK energy resources, which I explain at length in my 
presentation, is that the UK deficit ceases to be a purely fiscal problem based 
upon the excess of credit spending over wealth generation, but instead becomes 
a direct drain on capital as the pressure to import the energy required to 
make the economy function grows.

There is no simple solutions to this issue. Either Britain develops a 
significant export-based economy -- unlikely within the period over which these 
pressures will take effect -- or we significantly contract economic activity as 
a whole to reduce the need to import energy to within manageable boundaries -- 
not impossible, but politically unacceptable at present whilst we maintain the 
mythical mantra of growth at the core of public policy. However, as I enter my 
tenth year of working full time on this subject, even many of the more 
progressive/radical campaign and social groups in the UK are not ready to 
accept this reality. In practice I think that contraction will take place at 
the behest of events rather than any planned "power down".


P.

- -- 

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nor are we for this party nor against the other but we are
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God, and with one another, that these things may abound."
(Edward Burrough, 1659 - from 'Quaker Faith and Practice')

Paul's book, "Energy Beyond Oil", is out now!
For details see http://www.fraw.org.uk/ebo/

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http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/ecolonomics/

Paul Mobbs, Mobbs' Environmental Investigations
3 Grosvenor Road, Banbury OX16 5HN, England
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email - mobbsey at gn.apc.org
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