Peak Oil

IMF and resource scarcity Submitted by Kjell Aleklett on Tue, 2013-01-29 06:43. Headline news During the past week the future of the world economy has been discussed in Davos, Switzerland. Below, I think it is appropriate to quote Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In her speech of 23 January she presented the following viewpoint: The burning question is this: how we can make sure that all regions grow strongly, converge rapidly, and succeed in meeting the aspirations of their people? To answer this question, we need to reflect upon some of the megatrends shaping the future. Many thought leaders are pondering this issue, including here at the World Economic Forum. I would submit the following four pivot points: • First, a growing demand for individual empowerment, including for women, and a growing sense of a single global community. •Second, a reallocation of political and economic power across the world. By 2025, for example, two... Read more

Peak oil is just a symptom of the issue that will lead to the demise of mankind, unhindered population growth that is entering the steep incline phase of its compounding growth rate. As pointed out on this list, in the middle 19th century the world's population was 1.5 billion - 100 years later it had doubled to 3 billion and 50 years after that it had doubled again to 6 billion. Current level 7 billion. The demise of America is not really the issue. Things like national boundaries will be irrelevant once the shit hits the fan. Oil is just one of the finite resources that we will consume at an unsustainable rate if this pattern continues to accelerate. As we eliminate natural checks on our population growth through medicine and technology we'll quickly find ourselves fighting with each other for those resources for our survival instead of fighting the elements and other predatory species. Oh, wait, that stage has already begun. Next stop, oblivion.

UPDATE: http://wlsam.com/rssItem.asp?feedid=114&itemid= 29660443 http://www.thestreet.com/story/11091698/1/oil-situation-may-be-worse-than-you-think.html?cm_ven=RSSFeed http://peakenergy.blogspot.com/2011/04/disquieting-saudi-oil-indicators-and.html UPDATE: Looks like Matthew Simmons was right after all, which is bad news for the GOM: http://phoenixrisingfromthegulf.wordpress.com/2010/ 12/01/the-gulf-of-mexico-is-dying/ UPDATE: Troubling NY Times article. Looks like the USA has jumped the shark. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/is-peak-oil-behind-us/?partner=rss&emc=rss Can't do much to improve on abichara's excellent review discussing the effects of peak oil on the economy. That's not going to stop me from putting in my 2 cents worth of course. The largest oil field in the world—the granddaddy of them all, Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar—is close to its peak, if it has not peaked already. The next three largest fields—Cantarell (Mexico), Burgan (Kuwait), and Da Qing (China)—... Read more

Oil is finite, so is our sun, and the galaxy. I can counter any fear monger's links with a hundred of my own debunking the fear mongering (((CRISIS OF PEAK OIL))). I pumped out dozens of peer reviewed documents debunking the CRISIS-WE NEED TO ACT NOW crap of Global Warming, oops, I mean Climate Change. Proof doesn’t matter to people with an agenda. It takes a lot of energy to deal with these dunderheads, and doggoneit!... not as much fun as it used to be.

Looks like it's gonna get ugly sooner or later.No way can I top Abichara & Ralph the Wonderlamas comments.I tip my hat to them,exposing my pointy dome.The only thing I might add,is that while alternative energy to power Trucking,Jets & SUVs doesn't look forthcoming,I still think it would be wise to develop and use alternative sources as soon and as widely possible to conserve the petroleum that's left and to set up a more adaptive infrastructure.

Many of the common perceptions about peak oil are a bit off base. It does not contend that the planet will run out of oil within the 50 years, sending our economy into a tailspin. According to this theory, after a reservoir has been depleted by half of its total volume, the output begins begins to plateau or remain constant for an undetermined period. At a later time (which cannot be predicted accurately) output begins a permanent decline with a variable duration until the remaining quantity of oil is no longer cost-feasible to extract with the current technology that we have at our disposal. Peak oil does not say that we're running out of oil. What it says is that we're running out of inexpensive oil. These are known as conventional sources; this is high grade oil that comes out of land-drilling operations and don't require large refining costs. Presumably we could have enough total oil, including conventional and non-conventional sources, say for the next 100 years, but that... Read more