Living through the transition from the Petroleum Age to a Sustainable Future.
Wholistic Workshops, Evening events, Peak Oil talks, and Web portal supporting your transition with Vision, Information, Wisdom, and Love.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
So what is 'peak oil' all about? Oil is a finite resource. Every day, we are pumping it out of the ground at a rate unequalled in history. Peak Oil is the term we use for the moment when the production of oil can no longer rise. Beyond this inevitable moment, oil production will fall and oil will becoming increasingly scarce and expensive Many people believe that the peak of global oil production is very near. Geologists, analysts, politicians and even oil companies are warning that 'the era of easy oil is over'
Surely having less oil can't be THAT serious. Why is it so important Energy, (and oil accounts for over 40% of the energy we use) is fundamental to our industrial civilisation. Virtually everything we use or do depends on energy to do it. The computer I am typing on for instance, needed 10 times its weight in fossil fuels to make. Every calorie of food we eat consumes 10 calories of oil or gas to produce, and that excludes transport, packaging, and the energy that goes into running supermarkets. But I thought we still had loads of oil left. Yes! But we use a lot of oil. The problem is that we are not about to run out of oil completely, but increasing number of experts believe that we have already used more than half of the earths oil and from now on oil will become increasingly scarce and expensive.
But what about all the alternatives like nuclear power or windmills? All have their advantages and drawbacks. But as yet none of them are even close to solving this problem - either singly or together. Click for more details on why that is so with regards to: Nuclear Power
Surely the scientists will think of something New technology has allowed us to extract more oil out of oil fields, but it still hasn't stopped oil fields from peaking and declining. We in the UK for instance have used the latest technology in finding and pumping our North Sea oil. UK oil production peaked in 1999, and has been dropping drastically ever since, we will be an net importer of oil sometime next year (2006) The sheer scale of the amount of oil we use means that any new technology will take years to find, produce the infrastructure, and mass market it. We won't be able to do that in the time we have left before the probable oil peak. Where can I find out more? Go on reading this site, or visit some of the links in the links section. I have summaried the sites I have linked to to save you time, and allow you to go straight to the area that interests you most. There is a good Mind Map of peak oil that sets out all the different aspects of Peak Oil, pro and cons, and its implications. Alternatively you can do one of my workshops, or come to one of my talks. Whatever you do, do something. Get started and be creative, and good luck.
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Living through the transition from the Petroleum Age to a Sustainable Future. Copyright© 2005 Living on the Cusp, all rights reserved. Articles may be copied and reproduced freely provided the authorship is acknowledged, the article is reproduced in full, and a link provided to Living on the Cusp.
Wholistic Workshops, Evening events, and Web portal supporting your transition through Information, Education, and Understanding. Our workshops and events in the UK,and this web site will tell you all you need to know, in simple, non-technical language, about, energy, ecology, ‘Peak oil', climate change, food supplies, the politics of oil and energy, economics, renewable energy, bio-fuels, population growth, sustainable economics, no growth economies, energy conservation, wind power, solar power, permaculture, and more.
