Several months ago, I wondered if the media’s fascination with peak oil, which crested in the mid-2000s, had ended. A big concern of many in the energy/sustainability nexus had found expression in popular culture and in visuals like this: But now the zeitgeist has flipped, from crude awakening to crude abundance, thanks to advances in…Continue Reading…
It wasn’t that long ago that peak oil was on everybody’s minds. The basic scenario: Global energy demand would soon outstrip the world’s oil supply. Some of the more feverish types believe this will lead to a civilizational breakdown and a post-apocalyptic Mad Max landscape. Peak oil anxieties first penetrated mainstream media in the mid-2000s,…Continue Reading…
A weekend WSJ excerpt from Daniel Yergin’s highly anticipated new book (published later this week) takes direct aim at the peak oil argument. We’ve heard this song before, Yergin says: This is actually the fifth time in modern history that we’ve seen widespread fear that the world was running out of oil. The first was…Continue Reading…
Gail the Actuary, who often writes about peak oil and resource scarcity issues at The Oil Drum, makes the case here that we’re on borrowed time. But unlike Jeremy Grantham, she doesn’t think we can do anything about it: There is no real solution to our predicament. Even if a cheap liquid fuel could be found…Continue Reading…
There is a profile of the world’s smartest and richest Malthusian in this Sunday’s NYT magazine that carries a headline he surely finds galling: Can Jeremy Grantham Profit from Ecological Mayhem? If you know anything about Grantham, then you know he wants to save the environment and civilization from ecological mayhem. As I wrote in this post…Continue Reading…
With great pithy I tried to caution people not to get so bubbly over the supposed wiki/peak oil revelations. I suppose if I can’t get my three year old to listen to me, why should anyone else? Fortunately, there is somebody much more learned and well-placed than me on the case. Maybe he’ll have better…Continue Reading…
There’s some fuel for peak oilers. An Oil Drum reader wisely reminds that context is necessary.
This might be true: The United States continues to slumber while a catastrophe lies in wait. Increasing numbers of analysts and policymakers are warning of another super price spike for oil and the likelihood of “peak oil” more generally. But I wish the author good luck with this: It is time for public discussion of…Continue Reading…
I love the title of this blog I just discovered: Global Change Watch: Peak Energy, Climate Change, and the Collapse of Global Civilization Any guesses (from the doomsday-is-imminent crowd) as to which will upend life as we know it first: peak energy or climate change?
It’s on: …the giants of the world’s energy armies are preparing.