Edited by Neal Grout, Saturday, 14 Aug 2010, 09:22
It has become common place for certain mainstream people and organizations involved in energy analysis, such as CERA, to dismiss peak oil theory and instead refer to the situation as peak demand. This follows conventional economic thinking that all resource extraction is dependent only on the rate of investment or lack there of. This does not do the situation justice, glosses over the flaws of conventional economic thinking and ignores biophysical constraints and the laws of thermodynamics.
Crude oil is a finite non renewable fossil resource (ignoring those vodka drinking abiotic nuts) of unmatched energy density and transportability. Like all non renewable resources its extraction rate will follow a bell shaped curve on a graph known as a Hubbert curve after the geologist who first proposed the idea. There are numerous historical peaks in crude oil production including the US lower 48 states in 1970, British North sea in 2000 and the Mexican GOM in 2005. These previous peaks clearly indicate that the rate of production is dependent on geological factors rather than economics
Peak Demand
It has become common place for certain mainstream people and organizations involved in energy analysis, such as CERA, to dismiss peak oil theory and instead refer to the situation as peak demand. This follows conventional economic thinking that all resource extraction is dependent only on the rate of investment or lack there of. This does not do the situation justice, glosses over the flaws of conventional economic thinking and ignores biophysical constraints and the laws of thermodynamics.
Crude oil is a finite non renewable fossil resource (ignoring those vodka drinking abiotic nuts) of unmatched energy density and transportability. Like all non renewable resources its extraction rate will follow a bell shaped curve on a graph known as a Hubbert curve after the geologist who first proposed the idea. There are numerous historical peaks in crude oil production including the US lower 48 states in 1970, British North sea in 2000 and the Mexican GOM in 2005. These previous peaks clearly indicate that the rate of production is dependent on geological factors rather than economics