ABOUT CRUDE AWAKENING
We are an group of concerned citizens in Austin, TX, dedicated to learning about the coming worldwide oil
production peak, its timing, potential consequences and the preparations being made to reduce its impact. We share
what we learn with each other and the Austin community to encourage appropriate action.
Our main group currently meets on the 2nd Wednesday of each month and membership is open to the general
public. We have structured the group by subdividing into two primary interest groups. The first is focused on
“spreading the word” to government organizations and the community at large. The second focuses on “personal
preparation”, for individuals, family’s, and small community organizations. The main group meets as scheduled,
and following some general discussion we split into our interest group for more focused discussions. Each interest
group holds other meetings at various times, separate from the main meeting, to allow members to participate in
the activities of both interest groups if desired.
The primary focus of each group is education of the issues and discussion of solutions to mitigate the risk. Field
activities may additionally be scheduled to further the studies and/or actions of each interest group.
ABOUT PEAK OIL
If this is the first time you are hearing about Peak Oil,
you are among 98% of the population. ‘Peak Oil’ does
not mean 'running out of oil', but rather 'running out of
cheap oil'. Cheap Oil supports our very way of life as we
know it. It is crucial for our transportation, food
production, economy, and basically everything that we
use on a daily basis. You owe it to yourself and future
generations to learn more.
According to an increasing number of credible experts,
within the next five to ten years there will not be enough
crude oil produced to meet the World's needs, even
though half the World's original supply of crude oil will
still be in the ground. The cause of this is two-fold:
First that no new significant oil fields have been
discovered in the past 40 years, and, second, that
extracting the second half of an existing oil field is
exponentially more difficult and expensive -- pumping
crude up from deeper depths, in a heavier form, and is
far more complex and expensive to refine.
Back in the 1950’s and 60’s, a now famous oil industry
analyst named M. King Hubbert developed a forecast
model that utilized a bell curve to predict when oil
production would “peak” for known reserves in the
United States. The “peak” was defined as the time when
production (extraction of oil from an oil field) would hit
the highest possible output levels, given the amount of
oil in reserves. Once the peak was hit, a decline in
production would ensue from that point forward, roughly
mirroring in a downward trend the upward curve of
increased production during the early life of the given oil
reserve. While his 1956 theory was soundly rejected by
numerous skeptics, his prediction became profoundly
prophetic in accurately predicting the year in which U.S.
oil production would peak. That occurred in early 1970.
He was almost exactly on target, literally within months,
in a prediction made more than fifteen years earlier
using his model. When the accuracy of his model was
confirmed, oil industry geologists began applying the
model to total global oil production. Today, numerous
credible industry experts and geologists are proclaiming
that global oil production will peak within the next few
years, if it hasn’t already. Most optimistic estimates
predict a peak sometime in the coming ten years. Many
predict the peak will occur before 2010, or has already
occurred.
The implications are sobering. Oil currently accounts for
about 40 percent of world’s commercial energy supplies
and global demand for crude oil is presently increasing
by 1.5% per year, with projected increases of 3% per
year after 2009.
China is already increasing
consumption by more than 3% per year as they enter
the industrial age. Once
World production reaches
its peak, supplies simply
cannot be increased and
global demand can no
longer be met; the price
of crude oil will increase
rapidly, and shortages
will
prevail
and
continuously increase in
severity. There will not
be an end to the resulting
oil shortages.
Since oil plays such a
vital role in our very
existence the problem
goes much deeper than the price of gas that we pay at
the pump. Crude oil is certainly the source of gasoline,
but also is the raw material for all plastics, most
lubricants, 95% of fertilizers, most pesticides, and
hundreds of thousands of other products that we use
and depend on every day.
Another startling fact is that the United States
population consists of 5% of the World's inhabitants yet
consumes 25% of the World's crude oil production,
importing 60% of the oil it consumes. Current global
consumption is roughly 83 million barrels of oil every
day (equivalent in volume to more than 25 continuous
minutes of the water flowing over Niagara Falls.) The
United States consumes a little more than 20 million
barrels of this oil every day. This energy is quite simply
the substance that fuels our growth economy.
International Energy Agency (IEA) data projects a nearly
20% shortfall of supply relative to demand by 2020 that
will have to be replaced by "unidentified unconventional"
sources (i.e., known oil-sands deposits have already
been taken into account in the calculation). Exxon Mobil
projects energy demand to increase by 50% in the
coming 25 years and has publicly indicated that these
supplies will need to be derived from as yet
undiscovered oil deposits and improved extraction
technology, or alternative energy sources.
The last large discovery of oil on the planet occurred
more than 30 years ago, and virtually the entire globe
has been searched to find additional deposits. 80% of
oil being produced today is from fields discovered prior
to 1973. These fields are now in terminal decline. In the
1990's oil discoveries averaged about seven billion
barrels of oil a year, only one third of what was being
consumed. The discovery rate of multi-billion barrel
fields has been declining since the 1940's, and that of
large (500-million barrel) fields since the 1960's. In
1938, fields with more than 10 million barrels made up
19% of all new discoveries, but by 1948 the proportion
had dropped to only 3%. Most oil field discoveries today
contain less than ten million barrels, and ten million
barrels will supply the United States with about half a
day's supply of oil.
The
ratio
of
oil
consumed
to
oil
discovered each year is
now about five to one:
30
billion
barrels
consumed,
and
six
billion
barrels
discovered.
Consider
the Alaska National
Wildlife
Refuge
(ANWR.)
The
preparation of the oil
field at ANWR for
production is scheduled
to take about ten
years. With its projected reserves of approximately 16
billion barrels of economically recoverable oil (based on
prices of $50 per barrel, according to the US Dept. of
Energy), this will supply an equivalent of under two
years of total US daily oil consumption.
Since 1869 US crude oil prices, adjusted for inflation,
have averaged $18.59 per barrel, compared to $19.41
for world oil prices. The past two years has seen prices
literally explode. These price increases are primarily the
result of tightening supply:
Fuel
Gasoline (spot)
NYMEX Oil
NYMEX Nat. Gas *
NYMEX Heating Oil
1/2004
$0.97/Gal.
$33.18/Barrel
$3.72/MCF
$0.94/Gal.
1/2006
$1.82/Gal.
$64.22/Barrel
$9.63/MCF
$1.80/Gal.
%
Chg
88%
93%
159%
91%
* The price of Natural Gas was $2.55/MCF in July 2000, less than
1/4 of today’s price, and reached more than $15/MCFin Dec, 2005.
Oil-derived products: Many of the products we are
accustomed to using every day are manufactured using
oil as a raw material, or ingredient. These include
products such as roofing paper, heart valves, crayons,
parachutes,
telephones,
bras,
transparent
tape,
antiseptics, purses, deodorant, panty hose, air
conditioners, shower curtains, shoes, volleyballs,
electrician's tape, floor wax, lipstick, synthetic clothing,
running shoes, bubble gum, car bodies, tires, house
paint, hair dryers, pens, ammonia, eyeglasses, contacts,
insect repellent, fertilizers, hair coloring, movie film, ice
chests,
loudspeakers,
basketballs,
footballs,
combs/brushes, linoleum, fishing rods, rubber boots,
water pipes, motorcycle helmets, fishing lures,
petroleum jelly, lip balm, antihistamines, golf balls, dice,
insulation, trash bags, rubber cement, cold cream,
umbrellas, inks of all types, paint brushes, hearing aids,
compact discs, mops, bandages, artificial turf, cameras,
glue, shoe polish, caulking, tape recorders, stereos,
plywood adhesives, toilet seats, car batteries, candles,
refrigerator
seals,
carpet,
cortisone,
vaporizers,
solvents, nail polish, denture adhesives, balloons, boats,
dresses, shirts (non-cotton), perfumes, toothpaste,
plastic forks, hair curlers, plastic cups, electric blankets,
oil filters, floor wax, Ping-Pong paddles, dishwashing
liquid, water skis, upholstery, chewing gum, thermos
bottles, plastic chairs, plastic wrap, rubber bands,
computers, gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, heating oil,
asphalt, motor oil, jet fuel, marine diesel, and butane.
We bet you could name more. In fact, there are more
than 500,000 products that use oil or oil by-products as
an ingredient in their production.
Obviously, the inability of oil production to meet demand
will raise the costs of fuel. But when the price of oil
increases, virtually every sector of the economy is
affected in some way; whether it is the shortage of the
raw material in manufacturing goods such as those
above, the costs of transporting those goods to the
market, storage in climate-controlled facilities, the
machinery used in construction of those facilities or
structures of any kind, most fertilizers and pesticides
used to maintain production yields in agriculture, and a
list of other dependencies that is longer than is practical
to note here. But that is only the beginning of the
impacts that such a situation will have on our society.
The resulting “domino effects” will generate enormous
price increases across the board for all products and
services in existence, making a significant number of
them economically impractical. And while the lack of oil
supplies will affect the manufacture or availability of all
of these products and services, the product which will
likely be impacted the most will be food.
Significantly,
global
population
growth
is
only
sustainable through dependency on the infrastructure
provided by cheap oil. Oil-based agriculture is primarily
responsible for the world’s population exploding from
1.5 billion at the middle of the 19th century to 6.4 billion
at the beginning of the 21st. As oil production increased,
so did food production. As food production increased, so
did the population. As the population grew, the demand
for food escalated, which increased the demand for oil.
Today, 95% of all the energy used by the agriculture
industry to produce, store, and transport food comes
from oil; from tractors to harvesters to irrigation pumps,
energy for storage, and the trucking and flying of those
foods to market. In the US, on average, a piece of food
now travels 1,400 miles before it ends up on your plate.
How will shortages and prices of oil affect you and your
family? What about affects on your community? How
do you think shortages and prices will affect industry
and the economy?
The most important message in all of this is that the
decline in oil production will not be temporary. This will
be a permanent, worsening condition. Once the peak
has been reached, there will never again be enough oil
produced to supply the needs of our current oil-based
society. A massive change in the existence of humanity
is imminent.
Are you ready?
WHAT ABOUT ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES?
Consumption of renewable energy rose to supply
approximately 6% of total energy consumption for the
Unites states in 2003. Biomass and Hydroelectric power
made up 75% of the total renewable contribution while
solar and wind made up less than 2½% of this
contribution. It is also important to note that the end
product of many alternative energy sources such as
nuclear, hydroelectric power, wind, solar, geothermal,
and tides is electricity, which is not a replacement for oil
and natural gas in their important roles as raw material
for a host of products ranging from paints and plastics,
to medicines, and inks. But probably the most vital of all
uses is to make the chemicals which are the basis for
modern agriculture.
Certainly, the costs and
infrastructure required to retrofit the 900 million+
internal combustion vehicles currently in use on the
planet to an electricity-based propulsion will pose
significant challenges.
Coal: There is enough coal left in the ground to supply
us for 200 years. However, coal mining operations,
machinery and transportation all run on fossil fuels.
Coal currently has an energy profit ratio (EPR) of 8 to 1,
meaning 8 units of coal can be produced using the
energy produced by one unit of coal. Compare that to
oil’s current EPR of 10 to 1 (10 barrels of production at
the energy cost of one barrel of oil) and, with oil
supplies depleting and coal resources becoming more
difficult to mine, coal’s EPR estimate for 25 years from
now is 1 to 2, meaning it will take the energy equivalent
of two units of coal to produce a single unit of coal.
When it takes more energy to extract a substance than
that substance can produce, it is no longer an energy
resource, rather it is an energy drain.
Hydrogen: Hydrogen is not an energy source, rather it
is a carrier of energy. Hydrogen currently supplies
approximately 0.01% of the energy used in the United
States. Hydrogen must be made from oil, gas, coal,
wood, biomass, or water. Yet in every case, it currently
consumes more energy to make hydrogen than the
energy it can provide (an EPR of less than 1.) Further,
the infrastructure to deliver and use hydrogen
(converting the internal combustion engines in use
today) is not currently in place, will cost untold billions
to develop and deploy, takes four to eleven times the
physical space to transport and store (as compared to
oil), is not suited to aircraft or sea-going vessel
propulsion, and cannot be used for plastics or fertilizers.
Nuclear Power: This energy source currently provides
about
8%
of
US
energy
resources
through
approximately 100 nuclear power plants. This number
would need to be increased by 800 to 1,000 plants to
replace the energy provided by oil today in the United
States alone, and from 7,000 to 8,000 additional plants
globally. Further, it would require the retrofit of fossilfuel-powered machinery and vehicles to an electricitybased propulsion system in order to use its energy to
replace oil-based propulsion systems. It cannot be used
to produce plastics or fertilizers and has its own waste
and security implications to consider.
Further, the
infrastructure required to power the five to ten year
manufacturing process to build each nuclear power plant
is currently based on fossil-fuel-powered
machinery and manufacturing processes.
To build 1,000 nuclear power plants at
current costs would require from 3 to 5
trillion dollars.
Natural Gas:
This energy source
currently provides approximately 25% of
energy production in the United States
and more than half (52%) of the grid
energy in the state of Texas (coal
currently provides 37% and nuclear
energy provides 10%.) The US natural
gas supply already peaked in 1970 and is
currently only producing at 1/3 its peak
level. Global natural gas deposits will
start running out from 2020 on. Demand
for natural gas in North America is
already outstripping supply, especially as
power utilities take the remaining gas to
generate demands for electricity. North
Americans will continue to face high prices to power,
heat and cool their homes and may even endure some
natural-gas shortages during cold winters. The rising
demand for gas, coupled with flat production, has tripled
prices in the last four years.
The infrastructure to
import and transport natural gas is not in place,
although 59 LNG terminals have been approved for
development in the USA, and will take years to develop.
Finally, natural gas is not suited for existing jet aircraft,
ships, vehicles, and equipment for agriculture and other
products.
Hydroelectric power: Currently accounting for 2.8% of
U.S energy production, it can be safely stated that
virtually all locations suitable for large hydroelectric
power plants have been exploited, and many of the
rivers and lakes behind these dams are silting up
rapidly, threatening their long-term viability. In the
northeastern United States are a large number of
locations where small hydroelectric operations could be
reactivated – providing supplemental power to small
towns and communities.
Solar Energy: Power from photovoltaic arrays account
for 0.07% of current energy production in the United
States. To increase this amount to any meaningful
degree of energy production would require more than a
1000% increase in the deployment of solar power
generating platforms.
Estimates are that more than
20% of our land area would be required to replace one
half of our current energy needs. Energy production is
also largely impacted by cloud cover and density, the
daily pattern of light and darkness, seasons, and dust in
the air. This energy is not reasonably storable or
portable energy like oil or natural gas, so it is unsuited
for present vehicles and industry. The platforms
additionally require the use of extensive fossil fuels to
manufacture the solar cells, and to install the energy
platforms. The batteries are bulky, expensive, wear out
in 5-10 years, and have their own disposal issues due to
the toxic materials contained in them.
Solar water
heating, is, in fact, a very valuable commodity provided
by solar energy, with more than 10,000 megawatts of
generating capacity installed world wide as of 1998.
(the typical American home uses approximately 1520Kwh of energy per day.
Wind: Wind power is now the world’s fastest growing
energy source, accounting for about 0.1% of the US
energy supply, and is a worthy alternative energy
source.
It is four times as efficient as solar PV. But,
again, to increase power production from this resource
to any meaningful level of contribution to our energy
needs will require increases in wind farm deployments of
astronomical proportions. It is also worthy to consider
the enormous energy requirements, in the form of oildependant machinery and manufacturing processes, to
construct the generators, towers, transmission grids,
and to deploy wind farms.
Further, wind energy is
dependent upon variable wind speed and, although
there is wind blowing all night, energy demands are at
their lowest point at that time and wind energy is not
easily storable. * Consider that if United States consumers
owned several thousands of electric vehicles, which were
plugged in overnight to recharge, those thousands and
thousands of storage batteries would provide a massive ability
to store such energy.
Shale, tar sand, coal beds, methane, ethanol and
biomass: The major problem with these sources is that
they cannot be exploited before the oil shocks cripple
attempts to bring them on line, and the rate of
extraction is far too slow to meet the huge global energy
demand.
It is so expensive to extract that, after
hundreds of millions of dollars attempting to exploit
shale, thirteen companies, including big oil corporations,
have given up their shale interests. However, as oil
prices continue to rise, the economic viability of these
deposits will become more attractive.
There are
additionally enormous environmental implications tied to
the extraction of oil from shale, tar sands, and coal beds
– the process requires the use of enormous quantities of
natural gas or fresh water.
Ethanol takes more energy to produce than is derived
from its use and is only viable in America today because
of massive government subsidies. Most biomass energy
is produced from wood, wood waste, and agricultural or
landfill byproducts and waste.
Methanol requires
enormous amounts of agricultural land to produce.
Methane, for example can be produced from animal
manure, yet each pound of manure generates roughly
only 50 cubic feet of gas, less than ¼ of typical family
gas usage per day in a typical home. It is also worth
mentioning that the methane or biomass gas generation
process requires considerable time to produce because it
is a biological process depending upon decay.
Austin Energy: Data compiled by the Department of
Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) GreenChoice is the most successful utilitysponsored green power program in the nation with 383
million kWh in subscriptions at the end of 2004. The
average home in Texas utilizes about 20-30kWh of
energy use per day. The program allows subscribers to
request dedication of renewable energy supplies for their
electricity use. The GreenChoice rate replaces your
standard fuel charge on your bill. The standard fuel
charge is 2.796 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of
electricity used. The current green power charge is 3.50
cents per kWh of electricity used. This means that new
subscribers to GreenChoice pay a little bit more than a
non-subscriber. For the average residential subscriber
(based on using 1,000 kWh per month), GreenChoice
costs about $7.00 more per month.
Is GreenChoice a good idea? You be the judge. For
every additional subscriber additional demand for
renewable energy resources is being created. You can
enroll your home and even your business in this
program which guarantees energy prices through 2013.
Do you think conventionally generated power will remain
at the 2.796 cents per kilowatt-hour after the peaking of
oil and natural gas production?
Summary: While none of these alternative energy
sources is currently a viable replacement for the
enormous energy demands currently supplied by oil and
fossil fuels, the rapid development and deployment of all
of these resources, combined, is absolutely vital to
meeting the future energy needs of the nation, and will
certainly ease the impact of the depletion of energy
derived from fossil fuels in the years ahead.
You can expect a transition in the next five to ten years
in the way we will live our lives in this country and in our
community.
In fact this will most probably be the
greatest transition in lifestyle in the vast history of
humankind. What we as individuals and as a community
do now, today, will have a direct and significant impact
on the comfort levels and challenges of that transition.
We urge you to take this issue very seriously, to become
educated on the issue, and to take action now in your
personal life, that of your family, your neighborhood,
and your community at large.
RECENT COMMENTS BY INDUSTRY INSIDERS
•
"Relative to demand, oil is no longer in plentiful supply.
One thing is clear, the era of easy oil is over. The
time when we could count on cheap oil and even cheaper natural gas is clearly ending." “It took 125 years to
use the first trillion barrels of oil. We’ll use the next trillion in 30.”
David O'Reilly, chairman and CEO of
ChevronTexaco Corp.
•
“We estimate that world oil and gas production from existing fields is declining at an average rate of about
four to six percent a year.” “To meet projected demand in 2015, the industry will have to add about 100
million oil-equivalent barrels a day of new production. That’s equal to about 80 percent of today’s production
level. In other words, by 2015, we will need to find, develop and produce a volume of new oil and gas that is
equal to 8 out of 10 barrels being produced today. In addition, the cost associated with providing this
additional oil and gas is expected to be considerably more than what industry is now spending.” -- Jon
Thompson, Exploration Division President of Exxon Mobil in a statement to shareholders in the 2003 corporate publication,
The Lamp, Vol. 84, No.1.
•
"Global oil [production] is 84 million barrels (a day). I don't believe you can get it any more than 84 million
barrels. I don't care what [Saudi Crown Prince] Abdullah, [Russian Premier Vladimir] Putin or anybody else
says about oil reserves or production. I think they are on decline in the biggest oil fields in the world today and
I know what's it like once you turn the corner and start declining, it's a tread mill that you just can't keep up
with...So, when you start adding the reserves in these countries, you're not even replacing what you're taking
out." -- T. Boone Pickens, former geologist for Phillips Petroleum and founder of Mesa Petroleum, addressing the 11th
National Clean Cities conference in May, 2005.
•
“The majors [oil companies] are merging and downsizing and outsourcing and not investing in new refineries
because they know full well that production is set to decline and that the exploration opportunities are getting
less and less. Who would drill in 10,000 feet of water if there were anywhere else easier left?” -- Colin Campbell,
who has served as a geologist for Oxford University, Texaco, British Petroleum and Amoco (prior to the BP Amoco merger).
He has served in executive positions with Shenandoah Oil, Amoco, Fina and was Chairman of the Nordic American Oil
Company. He has served as a consultant on oil for the Bulgarian government as well as for Statoil, Mobil, Amerada, Total,
Shell, Esso and for the firm Petroconsultants in Geneva. He is the Convener and Editor of the Association for the Study of
Peak Oil and a Trustee of the Oil Depletion Analysis Center in London.
•
According to a new study published in April by state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, the potential for oil exploration in the
Gulf of Mexico has been greatly overestimated. Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, revealed that terrain in waters deeper than
3,000 meters in the Gulf of Mexico, an area known as the Abyssal Plain, were "not suitable for oil exploration." The
statement represents a serious setback for future drilling in the area, and, according to petroleum analysts, jeopardizes any
possible collaborations with foreign investors. Guillermo Pérez Cruz, head of Pemex's Special Unit for Deep Water Oil
Exploration, said the new report reduced previous oil estimates in the zone by 53 percent.
•
"If Saudi Arabia have damaged their fields, accidentally or not, by overproducing them, then we may have
already passed peak oil. Iran has certainly peaked; there is no way on Earth they can ever get back to their
production of six million barrels per day (mbpd)." -- Matthew Simmons, CEO of Simmons and Co., the largest oil
industry investment banking firm in the world.
•
“With most producers operating flat out to meet runaway demand increases this year, the world’s immediately
available spare production capacity has virtually disappeared,”. “This means that significant additional supplies
in the near-to-medium term must come from new projects already in the development pipeline. We now see
those projects providing surprisingly limited relief in terms of incremental supply in coming years, and indeed
physical shortages appear ever more likely if demand remains strong.” “Even with relatively low demand
growth, our study indicates a seemingly unbridgeable supply-demand gap opening up after 2007,” –Chris
Skrebowski, Board Member, Oil Depletion Analysis Center, London.
•
Each year, about 81 million people are added to the world's population — the equivalent of adding a country the
size of the United States every three years or one the size of India every ten years. And demographers expect
the world's population to continue to grow for at least the next 50 to 100 years." -- Union Of Concerned Scientists
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
1. Reduce your personal oil consumption and conserve.
•
Use public transportation where available.
•
Downsize your vehicle, carpool and rideshare, ride a bike, or walk.
•
Purchase items made locally instead of from afar. Support localization.
•
Plan trips to the store and errands so you aren’t hauling a 2-ton machine with you to the store every time you
just want a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread.
•
If you must drive somewhere, plan the timing to avoid heavy traffic and congestion.
•
Improve the insulation in your home to improve its efficiency.
•
Adjust your thermostat (warmer in summer and cooler in winter.) Try opening the windows and not using A/C
for at least one or more days each week this summer.
•
Replace your light bulbs now with long-life compact fluorescents
•
Consider Austin Energy’s credits for installing solar panels or purchasing highly efficient appliances.
•
Reduce your use of products made from oil (including plastics)
•
Reduce your use of electronic devices
•
Recycle and re-use plastic
•
Design and build efficiently to minimize energy requirements
•
Use manual tools instead of power tools (including the lawnmower and weed eater and food processor.)
2. Think local rather than sprawl
•
Minimize urban sprawl wherever possible
•
Lobby community leadership for walking communities by design
•
Move closer to work or work closer to home. Better yet, telecommute. Go ahead, ask your boss.
•
Purchase/utilize locally produced products and services. Support localization.
•
Support local development rather than urban sprawl
3. Get involved
•
Educate yourself on the peak oil issue, and understand the implications
•
Educate yourself on how oil shortages will impact you and your community
•
Talk to others in your community about it – encourage a dialog
•
Get to know your neighbors – now. You’re going to need them.
•
Start a garden at home now, and learn to preserve food.
•
Identify wasteful behavior and be courageous enough to speak up about it
•
Pull people along with the idea of conservation rather than push it on them
•
Submit ideas to your local community leadership on ways to prepare for the post peak oil world, and then follow
up and track what they are doing. Vote accordingly.
•
Lobby governments and community leaders to spend heavily now on renewable energy, public mass
transportation, and improving localized agricultural practices.
•
Lobby governments and community leaders now on reducing spending for more roads, urban sprawl and
inefficient infrastructures, or dependence on long-distance consumption.
•
Utilize resources of all kinds sensibly, but especially energy.
•
Think about everything you do in relation to how your life will be affected after oil hits peak production.
RECOMMENDED READING
•
The Long Emergency: » By James Howard Kunstler. 2005.
•
Power Down: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World » By Richard Heinberg. 2004.
•
The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World » Paul Roberts, 2004.
•
The Party's Over: Oil, war, and the fate of industrial societies » By Richard Heinberg. 2003. Humanistic
perspective, from the view of an ecologist.
•
Hubbert's Peak: The impending world oil shortage » Kenneth S. Deffeyes, 2003. From an oil industry geologist.
•
Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy » By Matthew R. Simmons. 2005.
A very technical analysis of the Saudi oil situation, predicting Saudi oil peak is at hand.
•
The Coming Oil Crisis » Colin Campbell, 2004. A respected oil industry geologist.
•
Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak » By Kenneth S. Deffeyes. 2004.
•
Blood and Oil : The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Petroleum Dependency » By Michael T.
Klare. 2004.
•
Crude : The Story of Oil » By Sonia Shah. 2004.
•
Oil: Anatomy of an Industry » By Matthew Yeomans. 2004.
•
Out of Gas: The end of the age of oil » David Goodstein, 2004. Scientific slant, from a thermodynamicist.
•
High Noon for Natural Gas » Julian Darley, 2004.
•
Jimmy Carter and the Energy Crisis of the 1970s: The "Crisis of Confidence" Speech of July 15, 1979 »
Daniel Horowitz, 2004.
•
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late » By
Thom Hartmann. 2004/2000.
WEB RESOURCES ON THE PEAK OIL ISSUE
1. www.communitysolution.org
2. www.drydipstick.com
Metadirectory: Books, websites, news, Internet forums, articles, community groups and videos.
3. www.hubbertpeak.com
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubbert_peak A comprehensive overview of the Hubbert Peak model
5. www.peakoil.com
6. www.peakoil.org
7. www.peakoil.net
8. www.peakoilaction.org
9. www.survivingpeakoil.com
10. http://www.dynamiclist.com/?node=d2c931e8-1d18-41b6-8024-a271498b846c (Interviews and
presentations. Listen to what these experts and authors have to say.)