Surviving peak oil will require rethinking transportation

There should have been banner headlines in every newspaper in the country. It should have been the lead story on every newscast. On June 7 U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman announced that the world had reached peak oil output and that demand was outracing supply.

Instead, Bodman’s pronouncement in Japan, before the energy chiefs of eight industrialized countries, drew virtually no notice. Bodman did not use the term “peak oil,” but the situation he described, flat global oil production dating back to 2005, coupled with ever-increasing demand, including hefty increases in demand from China and India, precisely fits the paradigm of peak oil.

Current estimates of the timing for global peak oil range from right now to 2030. But given the situation Bodman described, it would appear that peak oil is upon us, or very near, and the current record run-up in the price of oil and oil products is hardly surprising. Economics 101 says a scarce product coupled with strong demand must result in rising prices.

Salt Lake Tribune