Peak oil

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Book review: The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler reveals a bleak future after peak oil Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

The book begins with a discussion of the concept of "peak oil" -- a term that indicates we've nearly reached the peak production of fossil fuels for energy. After the peak oil point is reached, oil production will decline and the price of oil will naturally rise. Kunstler points out that not only has oil likely reached a peak in terms of global production that may have occurred in the last two or three years, but at the same time the demand for oil is sharply rising around the world, especially as nations like China demonstrate an increasing appetite for energy consumption.

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet Mark Lynas See book keywords and concepts

With current reserves being depleted without replacement by new reserves, the 'peak oil' crowd would indeed seem to be onto something. The climate change campaigner and ex-geologist Jeremy Leggett warns that a failure to face up to peak oil could cause a global economic crash, combined with an upsurge in military conflict in the Middle East over the remaining oil reserves - conflict of which the US war in Iraq could be a foretaste.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century Alex Steffen See book keywords and concepts

Peak oil or no peak oil, there are no two ways about it: we have to shed our dependence on oil now. How do we kick the oil habit? Many auto companies are working on short-term solutions: high-profile hybrids (quickly becoming Hollywood's trendy new accessory); more efficient gasoline engines; cleaner-burning diesel engines; and biofuels and synthetic fuels to substitute for petroleum. Right now, our choices matter more than ever—every time we go to the showroom and drive a hybrid instead of an SUV off the lot, we send a message to automakers to keep the new solutions coming.

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet Mark Lynas See book keywords and concepts

The climate change campaigner and ex-geologist Jeremy Leggett warns that a failure to face up to peak oil could cause a global economic crash, combined with an upsurge in military conflict in the Middle East over the remaining oil reserves - conflict of which the US war in Iraq could be a foretaste. The American energy analyst Richard Heinberg calls for a strategy he calls 'powerdown', where the world undertakes a conscious shift away from the high-energy society in order to avoid collapse on the day the oil wells begin to run dry.

There is a confusing overlap between the peak oil and climate change issues. Logically, the decline of oil supplies must be a good thing for the stability of the climate, because it would force a transition away from fossil fuels - a transition which seems unlikely to be undertaken voluntarily. In addition, high energy prices make people behave more efficiently in the way they use energy, thereby reducing emissions. High oil prices also make renewable energy more competitive, spurring further investments in solar and wind. But fossil fuels are not only oil.

The liquidation of coal produces much more C02 than conventional refining - so peak oil in this case would worsen global warming. Other 'unconventional oil' sources are similarly polluting - the extraction of oil from the tar sand deposits in the Canadian province of Alberta uses vast quantities of steam and natural gas, meaning that the 'energy returned on energy invested' ratio is dangerously low and emissions dangerously high. Global gas supplies will last longer than oil, but not indefinitely - estimates of the date for 'peak gas' vary from one to eight decades away from now.

The picture is complicated, but it seems unlikely that peak oil will save us from global warming: even if cheap oil does indeed begin to run out sooner rather than later, the world is a long way from running short of hydrocarbons. More's the pity. Knocking in wedges In many countries a fractious debate has erupted about what sources of energy are best placed to replace fossil fuels. Most people quickly pin their flags to one or other mast. Greens by and large loathe nuclear power, so tend to plump for renewable options like solar and wind.

However, current world production is only around 80 million barrels per day, and is unlikely to rise much further before the 'peak oil' point is reached. There simply isn't enough oil in the ground to bring Chinese consumption up to Western levels - the global resource buffer is already being hit. Similarly for food: as the Chinese diet becomes increasingly rich in meat and dairy products, more grain is needed. By 2030, if Chinese consumers are to become as voracious as Americans, they will use the equivalent of two-thirds of today's entire global harvest.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century Alex Steffen See book keywords and concepts

Finding, pumping, and burning fossil fuels is changing our climate, polluting our seas, and involving us in resource wars. peak oil or no peak oil, there are no two ways about it: we have to shed our dependence on oil now. How do we kick the oil habit? Many auto companies are working on short-term solutions: high-profile hybrids (quickly becoming Hollywood's trendy new accessory); more efficient gasoline engines; cleaner-burning diesel engines; and biofuels and synthetic fuels to substitute for petroleum.

Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save Planet Earth from the Global Warming Meltdown David Steinman See book keywords and concepts

But, in the United States, we have wood chips, prairie switch-grass, corn stubble, and processed food waste; all of this can be turned into fuel that could compete extremely well with peak oil. Green fuels are different than petrochemical fuels. Some green fuels are created by biomass with use of fermentation and the novel enzymes that the bacteria produce, instead of with use of chlorine and other chemical catalysts. Yet, so powerful are these naturally produced enzymes that they break down the tough carbohydrates in these plants' cell walls.

Regional instability and skirmishes over the last of peak oil reserves in disputed oceanic and terrestrial regions leads Japan to develop force projection capability against China. (In 2005, China was drilling for oil in lands under dispute with Japan.) There is a flood of refugees from the Caribbean islands to the southeast United States and Mexico. European migration ?(mosdy wealthy) will accelerate to the United States, which is building up its borders against global migration. ?

Suzuki Foundation] sent me that was the most terrifying article about peak oil," he said. Once you exhaust all of the oil there is no more to discover. From that point on, you are just exhausting the reservoirs that there are. There are others who say it is going to be a drop in reserves. Paul Roberts makes this point in his book The End of OU. We are now pumping amounts higher than almost ever before, and with China and India's economies galloping, we are gulping more fossil fuel than ever before but we have more nations than ever with declining production. Right now, things seem to be okay.

Movie Review: I am Legend, Will Smith and the Dangers of Playing God with Food and Medicine Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

When the food bubble collapses, the water tables run dry, peak oil runs its course and the widespread use of synthetic chemicals in foods and medicines results in a generation of actual human mutants, the future that unfolds on planet Earth is more likely to be called, I Am Starving.

The new rules of imperialism: Economic warfare, consumer products and disease exports Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

I haven't even mentioned peak oil yet, by the way. Ever wonder what happens when the oil runs out? Check out this page on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.

Review: The Future of Food, a must-see documentary that exposes the biotech threat to life on our planet Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Depending on who you talk to, this collapse of the global food supply could be caused by the end of peak oil, a collapse of bioversity followed by widespread crop blight, the depletion of freshwater tables, radical weather patterns caused by global warming, or the widespread disruption of global ecosystems through the continued use of synthetic chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, etc.) Each of these explanations sounds like bad news to me. Any one of them could conceivably pose a major threat to the future of our global food supply.

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century James Howard Kunstler See book keywords and concepts

Many people consider the peak oil story another fantasy brought to us by the same alarmists who said that the Y2K computer bug would bring on the end of the world as we know it. The attacks of September 11, 2001, were supposed to change everything, too, but we are still a nation of happy motorists tooling down the highway with our iced beverages and savory snack food products, with Rush Limbaugh cheering us along on the radio. Nobody is prepared for the sinkhole that awaits us down the road.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century Alex Steffen See book keywords and concepts

We can't assume that hydrogen-powered cars will be perfected in time to head off the potential shortages and disastrous environmental consequences of peak oil and global warming. There may not be one right answer to the car question. Every piece of the puzzle could be important—from saving fuel now, to supporting new vehicles that run on clean energy, to backing legislation that will pave the way for the future of cars and fuel. The road ahead demands a different kind of car. mm & as Drivers' Ed ¦¦¦ In the immediate term, no simple solution to our fuel and emissions problems presents itself.

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century James Howard Kunstler See book keywords and concepts

Among the authorities combining to predict the global oil production peak in this range are the Uppsala Hydrocarbon Study Group of the Association for the Study of peak oil (ASPO), chaired by Colin J. Campbell, retired geologist for Texaco, British Petroleum, Amoco, and Fina (also see Chapter 1 footnote 4); David L. Goodstein, professor of physics, California Institute of Technology; Matthew R.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century Alex Steffen See book keywords and concepts

In order to avoid the troubles that we'll face when we hit peak oil, and to reduce emissions enough to ensure a bright green future, we need a whole new auto industry, one that is not dependent on fossil fuels. Hydrogen is widely considered to be the fuel of the future, and may well power the next generation of ultraclean cars. The technology roadmaps of today point toward electrification of our vehicles as the answer; hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles would use onboard fuel cells to generate electricity from hydrogen gas, a renewable energy source.

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century James Howard Kunstler See book keywords and concepts

In any case, political conditions around the world are primed only to change more radically as the peak oil rollover occurs and real scarcity asserts itself. In trying to predict what will happen, we confront a flow of events and possibilities that are nonlinear, chaotic, emergent, and self-organizing.

The so-called "intelligent highway system" (IHS), for instance, was the chief preoccupation of highway engineers oblivious to the approaching peak oil catastrophe and entranced with the computer advances. Their fatuous expectations of meeting ever-increasing traffic loads with ever more sophisticated onboard car computers keyed to computers embedded in the roadways couldn't have been more detached from reality. Even on their own terms the schemes were laughable. They assumed that every car on the road would have an onboard computer.

The twenty-year-long peak oil blowoff has made this experiment in arrested development possible. If nothing else, it has kept enough surplus wealth sloshing through the economy to keep the party going. The Long Emergency will force the issue. No group of Americans will be able to party through it. Even among the nominally poor today, standards of living have a long way to fall. What remains of the post-welfare reform social safety net may unravel altogether.

Empower yourself in 3 minutes a day: An introduction to indy media, NewsTarget.com and the online information revolution Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

To publish other information that sounds the alarm on modern civilization's most pressing challenges such as global conflict and war, the destruction of the environment, the coming energy crisis ("peak oil") and others. In a nutshell, then, our aim is to use the power of information to help solve problems and enhance the quality of life for us all. (Wouldn't it be amazing if traditional news sources had a similar goal?

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century Alex Steffen See book keywords and concepts

The concept of "peak oil" is pretty simple: Oil is a limited resource. Whenever we're dealing with finite resources, there comes a point when dwindling supplies make it more expensive to extract more of that resource, and we start extracting less. The term for that point is production peak. Without a doubt, at some point cheap oil will start running out, and less and less will be available. The critical question is, when?

Estill's Biodiesel Power weaves a basic education in biofuels together with a series of anecdotes from his years entrenched in the biodiesel community, which has been moving swiftly into the public purview in the light of skyrocketing gas prices and fear of peak oil. Green Car Congress http://www.greencarcongress.com Mike Millikin's Green Car Congress is the best single source for news on hybrids, hydrogen cars, alternative fuels, and related topics. It's one-stop shopping for the automotive eco-geek. as Bright Green Consumerism Opposite, left: Hydrogen refueling station.

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century James Howard Kunstler See book keywords and concepts

The best information we have is that we will have passed the point of world peak oil production sometime between the years 2000 and 2008.1 The date is inexact for several reasons. One is that the reported reserves (oil left in the ground) of private sector and nationalized oil companies tend to be routinely overestimated, variously to benefit the share price of stock or to gain export quota advantages in international markets, as in the case of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members.

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ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of this NaturalNews Naturalpedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.