‘Peak Oil’ drives urgent energy alternatives

In the furore over increasing oil prices, the two words our leaders seem determined not to mention are


Oil does not run out at the peak, as roughly half of the ultimately available oil remains to be produced. However, it is the point at which further expansion of global oil production becomes impossible because production from new oilfields is more than offset by the decline of production from existing fields.

It may be a sharp peak if, for example, some of the giant fields start to decline rapidly, or it may be an undulating plateau spread over a number of years if, for example, oil demand is destroyed as a result of recession or if developing countries are no longer able to afford high oil prices. Once demand begins to exceed supply, oil prices rise -, as they have been doing over the last few years. The bigger the gap, the higher the price.

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