H17516
Headlines : EnvironmentPeak Oil & Politicians
To be clear, peak oil is often misunderstood. The date that the world reaches peak oil is not the date we actually run out, but the date that we stop increasing production. This is followed by a “plateau” where oil production is flat. Eventually, oil production will decline. Even a plateau is a big problem for a world economy that is based on growth. In a world where 850 million are still going hungry and 3 billion out of 6.5 billion live on less than $2 a day, stagnant oil production means an end to development models based on economic growth. The statistics show that oil production has been flat for more than two years now. These facts are simple. As Hubbert said back in 1956: “Nothing sensational about it, just straightforward analysis.” And yet the most powerful institutions in our society continue to do everything they can to avoid confronting the truth.
[Posted By ShiftShapers]Republished from t r u t h o u t
In 1956, M. King Hubbert, a petroleum geologist with Shell Oil, presented a paper to the American Petroleum Institute that predicted US oil production would peak in the early 1970s and then follow a declining curve, now known as Hubbert’s curve. But Hubbert almost didn’t get to give his paper. He got a call from his bosses at Shell, who asked him to “tone it down.” His reply was that there was nothing to tone down. It was just straightforward analysis. He presented the paper, unedited. You can read the whole story here.
Since that time, the oil industry and its political supporters have done everything they can to tone down the message that oil is a finite resource and that we will run out of it some day. Why would they do that? To further the short-sighted, short-term pursuit of profit. In 2004, Shell finally got caught in a lie about the size of its oil reserves. The company had inflated the stated size of its oil reserves to keep stock share prices high because who wants to invest in a company – or an industry – that is going the way of the dinosaurs?
Since 1956, the world economy has…
Posted by ShiftShapers
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It’s been puzzling to me for a while now why, if the Bush administration understands peak oil, why they take no steps towards addressing the problem. Steps like, say, funding science to find alternative energy sources or decreasing wasted energy.
I’ve been doing some reading about Musolini’s Italy recently which has helped me to understand. My understanding is that in Musolini’s fascism, ideology was reserved for the lower ranks in the government and for the people, while at the top, Italian facsism was basically a spoils system.
Financial interests could and did contribute to the fascist cause, and they could expect governmental policies to favor their specific corporations in proportion to their financial contributions.
Such an politico/economic system obviously cannot work for very long, because the policies enacted won’t make any sense in terms of the survival of the overall system. They’ll only make sense if you view them in terms of kickbacks to the supporters of the regime.
It’s difficult to speculate what alternatives to gasoline could be discovered and implemented if resources were used to find them. Currently they’re not. Why? Because no established corporation would derive short-term benefit from alternative energy research, and some are existentially threatened by it.
why they take no steps towards addressing the problem.
because true solutions challenge the very basis of our way of life and standard of living.
but i would argue that they have attempted to address it, albeit in a fucked up way: the push for biofuels.
Steps like, say, funding science to find alternative energy sources or decreasing wasted energy.
their motive is profit and power, not sustainability.
no established corporation would derive short-term benefit from alternative energy research, and some are existentially threatened by it.
precisely.
and it was, after all, Mussolini who openly proclaimed himself to be “fascist,” and openly defined “fascism” as a merger of corporate and government interests, or what we sometimes today call “corporatism.”
true solutions challenge the very basis of our way of life and standard of living.
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘standard of living.’ I’m pretty sure that if the extra money & political capital the DoD has gotten since Bush took over was spent instead on efficiency, solar & wind plants, subsidies for alternative vehicles and R&D for new tech, we could be using EVEN MORE energy than we are now, and with fewer problems.
Greg Palast’s recent book, Armed Madhouse, talks of Peak Oil as if it is an artificially created phenomenon invented to justify higher oil prices. He points out that oil reserves in Iraq are largely untapped and that the oil companies (and the Saudis) want it that way so they can continue to reap large profits. I don’t mean to imply resources are unlimited, I am just curious as to why the article did not mention this point of view.
I am just curious as to why the article did not mention this point of view
Because the author of this article understands peak oil and Palast doesn’t. The position Palast takes in Armed Madhouse is ignorant and unfortunate given his past record of decent investigative journalism. Finding fault with this article for failing to mention Palast’s position is like blaming an article on geological history for not addressing the position that the earth is only ~6000 years old.
You can read Richard Heinberg’s response to Palast HERE
Shortage fears push oil futures near $140 – Fears of a shortage within five years propelled long-term oil futures prices to almost $140 a barrel, further stoking inflationary pressures in the global economy
House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices – WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.
LOL @ that last item.
At $140 a barrel, the time for hemp biodiesel has arrived!
Seems to me that GWB stoked this fire, by finally admitting to Peak (EZ to get) Oil, when he warned … LOL ... the Saudis this week, “The rising price of oil has brought great wealth to some in this region, but, the supply of oil is limited"
Heh … the guy goes hat in hand begging for a few million barrels, hoping to lower the price at the pump … Instead he cultivates a 20% increase.
HEMP for Victory!
Robert Hirsch on CNBC
HOST: Dr. Hirsch, there are a lot of people when we talk about peak oil who say there are going to be technologies that are always developed. There will be new ways to get oil, whether it’s from coal, whether it’s from the oil shales, and they say that means we will never actually hit peak oil. What do you say to those people?
HIRSCH: They’re incorrect, and the reason that they’re incorrect is that they don’t understand the magnitude of the problem and how long it’s going to take to bring substitute liquid fuels on and to introduce energy efficiency on a massive scale. That’s something that we analyzed and it takes decades. And the reason, simply, is that the magnitude of the problem is enormous.
[McTeer says we should drill more.]
HOST: Dr. Hirsch, what do you say to that—the idea that we should be drilling in places like ANWR and drilling offshore. Would that solve this problem of a plateau in oil production?
HIRSCH: There’s no single thing that’s going to solve this problem because it’s as massive as one can possibly imagine. And the prices that we’re paying at the pump today I think are going to be the good old days because others who watch this very closely forecast that we are going to be hitting $12 and $15 per gallon. And then, after that, when world oil production goes into decline, we’re going to talk about rationing. In other words, not only are we going to be paying high prices and have considerable economic problems, in addition to that, we’re not going to be able to get the fuel when we want it.