Peak Oil Authors Strahan & Clarke Exchange Letters

clv101

Earlier this year two books were published, The Last Oil Shock by David Strahan and The Battle for Barrels by Duncan Clarke. Both books address the question of future oil supplies but came to dramatically differing conclusions; Strahan arguing global oil production will soon peak and go into terminal decline, Clarke highlighting complexities concerning the evaluation of how much oil remains, historical mistakes in production forecasting and suggesting a more abundant view of our energy future.

In August David Strahan wrote an open letter to Duncan Clarke. It can be read here.
In September Clarke responded with a letter of his own, read his reply here.
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"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen." The Emperor (Return of the Jedi)
The Oil Drum: Europe

pstarr

Clarke uses 25-cent fancy words to make a very simple argument: there is lots of oil because peakers are pessimistic and have cried wolf to many times.

Clarke offers no evidence: no new discoveries, reserve growth, production increases, novel technologies, alternative energy sources, conservation breakthroughs, political changes, or economic miracles that will negate the single essential facts of oil geology and population dynamics----all natural resources are limited and all populations expand until limits are imposed. Overshoot and dieoff are as essential are evolution.

Clarke is another self-deluded 21st century intellect who is out of touch with the natural processes that sustain his cloistered suburban dream, and nothing will shake him up and out of his delusions of immortality.
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director

ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap wav

Bas

Interesting exchange.

This Clark fella is no dummy, but indeed his argument comes down to technology saves the day if peakoil happens, but it won't happen in the forseeable future, because "not all is known" ; in effect turning the argument of false OPEC numbers around, which he otherwise totally ignores in his reply.

Also he states that companies/countries will voluntarily switch to "something" before peak happens. Indeed he manages to package all this BS in such semantics that you cannot help but think at first glance, "that's pretty reasonable".

Bwech.
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"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."

- Abraham Lincoln

americandream

Amazing...a bit like running a business on the assumption that you have sufficient stock in storage althugh you haven't done an audit in ages.

Hand me the glue mate!
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Bugger me, I hear oil's runnin out mate!

MattSavinar · Elite Joined: May 09, 2004 Posts: 1999

jeezlouise · Heavy Crude Joined: Feb 05, 2006 Posts: 303

It's really too bad that return policies are only good for 90 days or so. Everyone who bought Clarke's book is going to want their money back in a few years. But for now, let it give them that warm fuzzy feeling inside that there's nothing to worry about as far as global oil supply is concerned.

And then, a few years from now, it can give them that warm fuzzy feeling on the outside as they burn it for heat.

untothislast

The oft-promised 'technological fix' seems to have been nothing more than the appropriation of available arable land (previously used for feeding people) for 'growing' bio-fuels.

So, we're replacing oil . . . with oil.

Wow! What a breakthrough!