Petrology - The New Energy Homepage
Energy is one of the most critical things for our economy; we rely on cheap source of it. The problem is that the source that we have been relying on is running out. As we start to run out of fossil fuels it is going to have a huge impact on the way we live, probably the biggest since the Industrial Revolution. Therefore we are going to want to make sure that we are prepared when it happens.
There is no getting around the fact that we are running out of oil, this is something that we have known for years. Obviously since oil is a fossil fuel and it takes hundreds of millions of years to replace our reserves we have known for decades that this day was coming. However we are now at the point where we have to face the reality that we will eventually reach the point where we cannot rely on it as a fuel source. That means that we need to have a plan in place for what we are going to do.
There is a theory called peak oil which addresses the question of when are we going to start to run out of oil. What peak oil concerns itself with is that point at which oil production reaches its peak. After this the amount of oil that gets produced will decline, in all likelihood very quickly. This will mean that there will be a dramatic rise in the price of oil. Nobody really knows when oil production will peak since it involves a lot of variables like the level of demand and any new reserves that are discovered. But it is generally agreed that it will happen during the lifetime of people who are living today.
The consequences of peak oil are going to be dramatic. Common sense says that if the demand remains the same and production declines there will be an increase in price. This increase in price is going to have a huge impact on the economy since we depend heavily on cheap oil to keep it running. This is why we need to be prepared when it happens since there are going to be some pretty dramatic changes. Ideally we will make these changes before we reach the crisis point.
Obviously the way that we are going to have to deal with declining oil production is going to be to find alternative fuel sources. There are quite a few options available but most of them have issues that keep them from being widely implemented. The biggest problem is simply cost; the alternative fuels just can't compete on price with fossil fuels. Obviously after we reach the point of peak oil that will change but if wait until then to start using them we may find that it is too late. It would be far better to start using these sources sooner rather than later.