International Energy Agency says peak oil is coming sooner

…As the cities grew, even more horses were needed and the problem grew steadily worse. One writer in the Times in 1894 estimated that in 50 years, the streets of London would be buried under three metres of manure.

In fact, within 35 years the streets of London were almost completely free of horses, and filled with automobiles instead. They created a different kind of pollution, but at least you didn’t step in it.


The same fate is likely to overtake oil-fuelled vehicles in the next 35 years.

The shift will be driven by concerns about foreign exchange costs and energy independence, and increasingly by the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

It is starting with ever-tightening standards for fuel efficiency. That will be followed by the first mass-market generation of electric vehicles, due in the next two or three years.

The coup de grace will be delivered by third-generation biofuels, probably produced from algae that do not use valuable agricultural land, that are fully competitive with oil in price and energy content.

Straight.com