Peak Oil
A concept originally explored by Dr. Hubbert in the 1950s, Peak Oil refers to the now well observed phenomenon that when a given oil field is approximately half depleted it’s production value peaks, and then declines. Usually when someone talks about Peak Oil they mean the Global Oil Peak, when the production value of all the oil wells as a whole in the world peak.
This is a short introduction on the basic concepts of Peak Oil. The video itself is rather old, as of this posting oil is pushing $75 a barrel. This video claims a current price of $58 a barrel. The concepts still hold though and it makes for a decent, although outdated, primer. It is hosted for free on YouTube.
A short clip from the movie, “The Oil Factor,” this video describes the very real presence of peak oil. It is hosted on YouTube.
A one-minute video showing a submarine on maneuvers in the Gulf of Mexico. It is hosted on YouTube.
A video asking one simple question: how much warning do we really need? It is hosted on YouTube.
Aftermath » Blog Archive » Peak Oil and the Mainstream said,
July 12, 2006 at 3:06 pm
[...] The past few months I have had the pleasure of talking with many interesting, and intelligent individuals. One of those occurred at a wedding that I attended. Overhearing the phrase peak-oil caused me to rush over and initiate a conversation full of collapse scenarios, possible solutions, and tribal ventures. At the Maps Meet that Ben and I attended, talking of such things as peak-oil caused very few people to blink in confusion as to what peak-oil is. There, too, talks of the future of oil and other issues that may cause the crash occurred. Another interesting conversation that occurred happened at my grandfather’s house during a visit I made. The group of us are going primitive/back-country camping next week. The mention of the coming trip brought on questions to me about my “primitive experiences.” Apparently I am the expert of the family in that regard, which does not surprise me, but the fact that my family wishes to go primitive certainly does. This conversation turned to the collapse of civilization, also something that surprises me. I would have categorized my family as the “technology will save us” grouping, though apparently this is changing as civilization does. My mention of peak-oil was greeted with knowledge of the situation and understanding of what it means, no additional explanation required. [...]