End to industrial expansion seen

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33521, 30 April 1974, Page 15

End to industrial expansion seen

(New Zealand Press Association) NELSON, April 28. The world-wide expansion of industry will be restricted in the foreseeable future, says Dr G. E. J. Hold, senior lecturer in physics at the University of Auckland.

Speaking at the conference of the Plastics Industry of New Zealand at Nelson today, Dr Hold said that because of the lack of raw materials, and energy to convert them into the finished product, any expansion would be halted. It was difficult to predict what the immediate position for the plastics industry would be, but petro-chemical feedstocks would become scarcer, he said. Throwaway items would be banned because it would be considered criminal to waste energy and materials. “Plastics will be reserved for vital uses in various aspects of industry,” he said. “The Government may force industry into vital areas, and individual industries may no longer have a choice.” He predicted the rise and fall of the automobile industry within three to four generations.

“My father saw the rise of the petrol-engine automobile, but I don’t think my two and a half year old son will ever drive one.

"The world is in an age of transition between a plentiful supply of energy and a restricted supply, which will eventually create social conditions which were inconceivable a few years ago.

“We will experience a global energy shortfall, with the critical time period coming in 20 to 40 years. Then we will have to use alternative fuel resources to oil.

“Science and industry will now have to find a replacement for the internal combus-

tion engine. Any alternative will restrict the present free movement of the individual,” he said.