Petrol: £6 per litre by 2040

Petrol prices are set to hit $20 per gallon (£3.13 per litre) within a generation, American journalist Chris Steiner has predicted in groundbreaking a new book.

Taking into account that we pay higher fuel tax in the UK compared to the US, this is equivalent to £6.21 per litre at current tax rates.

In ‘$20 per gallon’, Steiner predicts that as petrol prices soar, people’s lifestyles will be forced to change drastically.

Within ten years, Steiner expects the majority of airlines to have closed down, Disney World to have suffered a similar fate, and people to be driving hybrid cars to reduce their massive fuel bill.

Within 30 years, by which point petrol will cost $20 per gallon at the pumps, fishing will no longer be possible, most people will no longer drive, and only a tiny number of airlines will still be in operation.

Unsurprisingly, rail travel is set to become increasingly popular, and renewable energy will be the hot new industry for start-up entrepreneurs.

Despite rocketing oil prices and the need to combat climate change, Steiner predicts that we’ll still burn all the earth’s oil reserves.

“It’s likely we’ll burn most of the easy-to-get oil no matter what.” Steiner said. “Expensive or cheap, we’ll burn it.”

Nonetheless, he holds out hope for a greener future.

“What high gas prices can lead us toward, however, is a more efficient world where coal (climate enemy No. 1) plays a smaller role in our energy needs.

“For this to be possible, we’ll need more co-generation (combined heat and electricity projects), solar, wind, and nuclear.”