We all know and live with the whim and fancy of the leaders of countries with questionable leadership that we support for the simple reason they control the life blood of our economy....OIL. This documentary is one of the best explanations of where we are worldwide with the prospect of reaching "peak oil". Most of the experts in the field think it will come around the year 2020. Worldwide demand for oil is on the rise and alternatives to oil are few in number and the output is not as energy dense as Oil.
What is even more disturbing is our elected leaders are not being up front with us about the finite supplies of Oil. I spent a fair amount of my youth in Kern County, California, home of the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve. Or at least what we thought was a reserve. It is now gone and the once bustling city of Taft near the reserve looks like a ghost town for the most part.
The energy density of Oil is amazing and I am quoting from memory here but one 42 gallon barrel of Oil can do the work of 12 men for a year! The economies of China and India are putting demand pressures on Oil as their middle class size increases every year. The demand curve on Oil supplies against known reserves is alarming to say the least.
Peak Oil is a concept not many people care about but the reality is looming in the next 10 years. Urban sprawl has put the United States at a very vulnerable position when you contrast the layout of our cities and towns with that of Europe. We are not set up for mass transit, nor are we willing to accept the notion of live, work and play in our communities. The reality of $5/gallon or higher for gasoline may not be that far off moving forward.
Some analysts say the world has the capability of sustaining a population of about 1.5 to 3 billion people. We are now headed toward 7 Billion and by 2050 we will have about 9 billion people. Give all this some thought when you make a decision about energy consuming appliances. The costs for energy are certain to increase dramatically within the next decade and no elected politician can do anything about it.
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