What the XXXX is a BTU when it’s at home?

Since I last made a contribution to this column I have been looking in to options available to providing an alternative to my current Kerosene fuelled central heating system. To be honest, given the convenience oil or gas fired central heating has over others, it is hard to identify a system that uses a fuel that will give a corresponding convenience. Flick a switch and it’s on, and there ye are feet up drinking yer coco watching Emmerdale. I went to see a chap that sells wood pellet stoves and he spoke in glowing terms (excuse the pun) about the merits of his stove - “110,000 BTU output", he said as he patted the stove in the manner you would reward an obedient collie dog.

"What has this to do with the price of spuds"

A maths lecturer I once had used that to say that to me when I gave answers that lost sight of the original question he asked. That comment sprang to mind this week when I heard that the well known generally conservative financial consultants Goldman Sachs warned that oil prices might enter a ‘super spike’ period driving oil toward $105 a barrel. Well to put it in a nutshell it has everything to do with the price of spuds. The systems that produce the world's food supply are heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Vast amounts of oil and gas are used as raw materials and energy in the manufacture of fertilisers and pesticides, and as cheap and readily available energy at all stages of food production; from planting, irrigation, feeding and harvesting, through to processing, distribution and packaging. In addition, fossil fuels are essential in the construction and the repair of equipment and infrastructure needed to facilitate this industry, including farm machinery, processing facilities, storage, ships, trucks and roads. The industrial food supply system is one of the biggest consumers of fossil fuels and one of the greatest producers of greenhouse gasses.

Dirty oil, the lifeblood of the world economy is the vital ingredient in everything from transport to petro-chemicals to agriculture (fertilizer & chemicals). The handful of massive corporations and producer countries that control the global oil industry are among the richest and most powerful interests on the planet. Since the election of George W. Bush, U.S. oil interests now effectively control the federal government of that country.

Oil corporations along with their corrupt and willing host governments are responsible directly and indirectly for wars, human rights abuses and massive pollution in Russia, Latin America, Africa and Asia.