The View from Oil’s Peak
October 31, 2012
“Peak oil” – when petroleum extraction globally reaches its maximum and begins an inevitable decline – may be near, and the consequences are likely to be devastating to societies accustomed to abundant, inexpensive fossil fuels. Petroleum is the world’s most important energy resource. There is no ready substitute, and decades will be required to wean societies from it. Peak oil could therefore pose the greatest economic challenge since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.
This is a chapter from The ENERGY Reader: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth (2012).