Low Impact

Peak Oil is, put simply, the point in time when we produce the most oil per day – it is the “peak” in our production. It’s a pretty straightforward concept – the reason it’s so significant is the implications. Once we reach Peak Oil, the inference is that the amount of oil we produce each day will decline.

The only problem is our daily usage of oil keeps going up! If that trend continues, we will reach a point when the world wants to consume more oil than the refineries can produce. At the very least, that would cause sky-rocketing prices as customers try to outbid each other for the remaining oil, and the potential for economic shock as well other forms of strife is pretty clear. Oil has become a major part of our day to day lives – we use it for heating, transport, manufacturing plastic and even making certain fertilisers.

So when will Peak Oil happen? That all depends on who you speak to. The major oil companies suggest that, assuming our reserves are larger than we currently estimate, Peak Oil won’t occur till at least 2030. That’s still pretty worrying – I certainly plan to be around in 2030! But more worrying still are predictions from other parties, suggesting that Peak Oil may only be 2-5 years away.

The difference seems to centre on how much oil is present in the Middle East. While other areas have produced large amounts of oil in the past, many areas have already reached their own “Peak Oil”. America’s peak oil production occurred around 1970 and Australian oil production is expected to peak around 2009. The Middle East, on the other hand, has the largest reserves, and is expected to have the capacity to increase its production in the years ahead.

What concerns some analysts, though, is how accurate the data is on Middle East oil reserves – the official data reported from the Middle East is not easy to independently verify. With the world’s dependence on oil, a lot rides on the accuracy of these figures!

There are a number of good information sources on the web that you can look at to learn more. The Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas is a good example. The Wikipedia’s article on Peak Oil is also a great place to get more facts and figures.

Another excellent document is a report the Australian Senate released in February 2007 called “Australia’s future oil supply and alternative transport fuels” . I have to admit that I expected a Senate Report to be a pretty boring text, but it’s actually very readable with a wealth of information on the different viewpoints, the impacts, and possible solutions. Well worth a read.

(Photo courtesy of PDPhoto.org)

Categories: energy, environment, green, reduce, transport

Tags: efficiency, peak oil, reliance