I do wonder if we are at the start of a petrol crisis that might end up with rationing.

There has already been talk about carbon footprints and purchasing carbon-offset vouchers but the cynic in me has dismissed most of this as nonsense or probably a get-rich-quick scheme for the people bright enough to think it up in the first place.

Petrol, however, might be something different. We had rationing in the 1970’s after one of the Gulf crises and, as I understand it, there was a previous bout in the 1950’s. With fuel at the pump now costing 128p per litre, which is £5.80 per gallon in proper English, something certainly does need to be done.

I am normally the last person to recommend interventionism and the concept of buying and selling tradeable energy quotas (or TEQ’s as the buzz word goes) is so alien to my soul that I am surprised to be writing this. But, even I am aware that something has to be done and a scheme of some kind needs to be in place before disaster strikes.

Part of the problem is that we are already too far down the energy usage path to turn back. Modern life and energy are deeply interwoven. The government says “get on your bikes and find work”. How do you do that if fuel for commuting is limited?

In the 1970’s, rationing encouraged car-sharing schemes but quickly ran foul of insurance policy terms that treated cost sharing in the same vein as hiring.  It got sorted out but was one more example of the mix of contradictions that govern our lives.

Trends suggest that more people will work from home; less people will travel to meetings as they make more use of video-conferencing; cars will become more efficient and new energy forms will be introduced. I do not doubt any of the above. What I do doubt is that change will come early enough to make any real difference.

Tomorrow there will be grumbles at the pumps as the prices continue to rise but motorists will carry on buying and paying as they have no other sensible choice. My worry is that, before the year is out, the motorist’s ability to adsorb these costs will be exhausted and then the trouble will really start. I would like to believe that we have a plan in place before this happens.