Interactive oil depletion atlas
The Last Oil Shock
♦ For every barrel of oil we discover, we now consume three
♦ Oil production is already falling in more than 60 countries
♦ At some point, probably in the next decade, global oil production will start to fall – for ever
Peak Oil is the point in time when worldwide oil production reaches a peak. After the peak, the amount of oil produced will decline. This follows an earlier peak in worldwide discovery, which happened in the 1960′s.
Dates for the production peak are increasingly converging on the period 2008 to 2015.
When peak oil is reached, demand will exceed supply and prices will increase considerably as oil becomes scarcer. This has far reaching implications for our way of life, as we take the availability of cheap energy to power our lives and drive industrial growth almost entirely for granted.
‘Peak oil’ is a technical term to describe the way in which we have used, or are getting very close to having used, over half of all the oil in the world. It suggests we will never be able to produce oil in quite the same way again. This means will be much more restricted in our ability to consume petrol and oil-based products which has serious implications to our current way of life.
Over the last few years we have all witnessed the costs of motoring and heating our houses going up as petrol and gas has become more expensive. From time to time we hear more people saying things like ‘we are running out of oil’. While that may not be strictly true, it does ask us to wonder how much longer we can continue to depend on the supply of oil that keeps us going. ‘Peak oil’ gives us a more accurate understanding of this situation and our relationship with the energy supply we have come to take for granted.
Why do we need to know about peak oil? Almost everything we do depends on the availability of cheap fossil fuels, particularly oil. Just imagine how difficult life would be without our regular supply of cheap oil. Peak Oil says we need to start preparing now for this eventuality.
Question: How many men does it take to push a car?
A tank of petrol contains 8000 human hours’ work. If you worked for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, that equates to about 3 years’ work.