Is Canada ready for a world awash in $0 oil? - The Globe and Mail
A draft federal-government study leaked to the CBC this week, prepared by the government trend-forecasting office Policy Horizons Canada, starkly makes the case that oil may be on the verge of becoming almost worthless.
The researchers analyzed worldwide pricing and technology and policy trends that are driving the price of non-fossil electricity sources downward at a far faster pace than expected ? along with surprisingly rapid technology-driven decreases in the price of grid-level energy storage and alternative-energy vehicles, manufacturing and heating. They found that we could be much closer than we think to an era when renewable and alternative-energy sources become significantly cheaper than fossil fuels.
As a result, it concludes, ?a new electricity-based industrial ecosystem could emerge at a much faster rate than expected, significantly disrupting fossil-fuel markets.? Within a generation, global petroleum demand could ?decline further and faster than expected with significant impacts on high-cost producers,? such as Canada.