The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO-USA) asserted today that the world is facing a significant energy crisis, as the rate of oil production cannot keep pace with demand. The world is consuming four barrels of oil for every one discovered, more than 80 million barrels of oil per day. After 150 years of oil extraction, most major oil exporting nations are well past their supply peaks, defined by scientists as "Peak Oil."
"We are at the point of no return," stated Jim Baldauf, President of ASPO-USA. "While global demand is accelerating, worldwide oil supplies have reached a plateau and are now in decline. The era of low-cost, easy-to-get oil has come to an end, a moment of historic significance and one fraught with danger. The Gulf of Mexico disaster occurred because the quest for new supplies requires that we drill miles beneath the ocean surface. Without affordable energy to drive our economy, we can expect price spikes and economic crisis to be the new normal. The debate about Peak Oil is over; it is time for bold action. If we do not change our current approach, we will see tremendous global repercussions."
Some immediate steps to consider include:
* Higher fuel efficiency standards for our cars and trucks, car sharing, more efficient design and construction of our homes, workplaces and urban centers, and innovative recycling and reuse programs. These approaches represent the low-hanging fruit of Peak Oil mitigation.
* Instead of building more highways, we must expand public transportation and make it more appealing, accessible and affordable.
* We must also change the paradigm around how we produce and transport food, raw materials and manufactured goods. Investments by governments and the private sector must be designed to bring manufacturing and food production processes closer to our homes.
Without a change in current behavior, there could be drastic consequences. Recent reports from government and military agencies in the United States, Great Britain and Germany all point to shrinking oil supplies as a growing reality that could usher in an era of resource wars, price shocks, shortages of fuels and vital goods, and broad economic decline. The Joint Operating Environment 2010 Report released by the U.S. Joint Forces Command forecast a worldwide oil peak by 2015, and observed that the effects "surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. Such an economic slowdown would exacerbate other unresolved tensions, push fragile and failing states further down the path toward collapse, and perhaps have serious economic impact on both China and India."
prnewswire
