Industrial nations’ fossil-fueled joyride is about to end . . . is anyone prepared?(GRAPH ONE)
World oil discoveries by decade, in billions of barrels
(Please click on image to enlarge.)
When Mike Bowlin, Chairman of ARCO, said in 1999 that “We’ve embarked on the beginning of the last days of the age of oil,” he was voicing a truth that many others in the petroleum industry knew but dared not utter. Over the past few years, evidence has mounted that global oil production is nearing its historic peak.
Oil has been the cheapest and most convenient energy resource ever discovered by humans. During the past two centuries, people in industrial nations accustomed themselves to a regime in which more fossil-fuel energy was
Oil has been the cheapest and most convenient energy resource ever discovered by humans. During the past two centuries, people in industrial nations accustomed themselves to a regime in which more fossil-fuel energy was
available each year, and the global population grew quickly to take advantage of this energy windfall. Industrial nations also came to rely on an economic system built on the assumption that growth is normal and necessary, and that it can go on forever.
"When oil production peaks, that assumption will come crashing down."
As we move from a historic interval of energy growth to one of energy decline, we are entering uncharted territory. It takes some effort to adjust one’s mental frame of reference to this new reality.
"When oil production peaks, that assumption will come crashing down."
As we move from a historic interval of energy growth to one of energy decline, we are entering uncharted territory. It takes some effort to adjust one’s mental frame of reference to this new reality.