Monday, November 19, 2007

Something That You Should Really Worry About

The Wall Street Street has a front page story on the possible perils of reaching the limits of our oil production capacity (sub req):

Mr. Simmons thinks the world needs to shift its energy focus from climate change to more immediate concerns. "Peak oil is likely already a crisis that we don't know about. At the furthest out, it will be a crisis in 2008 to 2012. Global warming, if real, will not be a problem for 50 to 100 years," he says.

Actually what the article is talking about is not the infamous "peak oil" in terms of the amount of oil available on earth. The real issue is that many experts believe we're reaching a plateau of how much oil we can produce for consumption. That involves the location of the oil and the infrastructure and expertise required to effectively utilize it. Since demand doesn't show any signs of slowing, once that plateau is reached something is going to have to give. And that's not gonna be pretty.

Too bad no one seems to be interested in making movies, holding concerts, or handing out Nobel Peace Prizes to bring attention to it.

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