miercuri, 18 iunie 2008

The End Of Oil

Courtesy of Saptamana Financiara, right now I'm about to finish reading The End Of Oil (Paul Roberts, 2004).

The story is simple: the oil is gonna end. Good or bad, perpetrator of progress or of pollution, angel or devil, it doesn't really matter. The oil is gonna end. Gata. Kaput. Hasta la vista, babe.

The question is: what we are going to do? How will the world cope with the transition to an economy based on a different type of energy?

The book is well written and balanced. Although the author is basically against the oil-produced energy (and, more generally, the energy based on fossil fuels, due to its environmental externalized costs), he doesn't fall into the trap of depicting the oil and energy producers and the other usual culprits (e.g. car makers) in the simplistic devilish colours, the way Greenpeace and other environmental activists do. On the contrary, the book is well-balanced, based on sound economic thinking and taking in account the difficulties these industries have to face as well.

But this is not the purpose of this post. There are tons and tons of well-thought reviews. What I want to show you now is, as usually, a graph. The level of USA oil consumption, both domestic production as well as imports, since 1982. Source: Energy Information Administration

They have a mighty problem... Watching this graph, the war on terror, on Irak, Iran, Afghanistan and other coins of the world is seen with fresh eyes.

Prepare. The WWIII is about to start. If it didn't already start.

:(

PS: You can find the book here, on Books.Google.

USA Production and Imports, 1983 - 2008





And a longer look on the USA Oil Production. Look how it peaks in the early '70s.

2 comentarii:

Anonim spunea...

yes... they have a problem indeed. I'm not one of those "hate-americans" but I must say that they kinda deserve it. Here we are trying to get a car that goes with 2-3 l/100km and they only drive cars with 3-5L engines.

Anonim spunea...

34% din productie e interna - dar, cel mai mare bazin este Golful Mexicului,cel lovit de uragane, urmat de Alaska, unde le ingheata din cand in cand conductele. Iar de importat, importa din Canada (un fel de sisturi bituminoase, f scumpe la exploatare si transformare in benzine, plus mari poluatoare), Arabia Saudita cu fundamentalistii ei, Venezuela lui Hugo Chavez (care a zis ca daca ataca Iranul le taie petrolul), Irak (unde aia isi bombardeaza propriile campuri petroliere numai sa-i saboteze)si Nigeria (au inceput sa se retraga marile companii, de groaza). Pe bune, au o mare problema. De aia Bush si cu McCain cer acum reluarea expoatarilor proprii - de preferat, din rezervatia naturala din Alaska. Deep s...! 5% din populatia globului si consuma 25% din petrol!