[Rufoman]

In my daily attempts to convince my friends of the dangers of peakoil I always run up against the same wall, I don't have anywhere with a fast and easy explanation to show them. I usually show my friends Links to LATOC.net which is great don't get me wrong, but it also takes quite some time to read and requires a reasonable amount of interest my friends rarely have for a subject like fossil fuel depletion.
So my request is that if anyone has another website that has a faster more broad explanation of peakoil and the problems it will cause please tell me.

[Aaron]

http://www.peakoil.com/static/popresent/eos.htm

http://www.endofsuburbia.com/

http://www.wolfatthedoor.org.uk/

[clv101]

Peak oil:

http://www.energybulletin.net/primer.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil
http://www.answers.com/peak+oil

[Jake_old]

What about a simple 500 word text, for the most average of people;

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')eak Oil: Overview

Oil is a finite resource, it was created via various geological processes over millions of years. In the last 150 years mankind has used around half of all the oil ever created by the planet. To extract the rest is always going to be more and more difficult as time goes by.

More than simply the petrol you put in your car, oil surrounds us. It is the plastic bag from the supermarket checkout, it is the plastic bottle that holds your water, synthetic fibres in your waterproof clothing, the UPVC Double Glazing that you might have or be thinking of having installed.

Perhaps even more important is the fact that oil produces our food. Not only are all commercial pesticides produced from oil but the tractor and the combine harvester are powered by diesel, it is transported to the distribution centre in a petroleum powered vehicle. From the distribution centre it is transported by yet more smaller vehicles to the supermarkets. We visit the supermarket in our car. Not only are these vehicles powered by petrol, they are largely made of it. Almost all plastic, rubber and paints are derived from oil along with the lubricants in the engine.

The sheer density of the energy in oil has allowed us to map the human genome, harness the power of nuclear energy, put satellites into space, even land a man on the moon but there are limits to what nature can provide.

The world economy is based on the assumption of growth. Growth is what drives all business in the UK and economic growth is dependent on ever increasing inputs of energy. In March 2005, the UK government predicted economic growth would be around 3 - 3.5%. In October the rate was reported as being 1.6%. Without this growth, fewer jobs can be created and without increasing inputs of energy, growth becomes very difficult, with declining inputs of energy it is impossible.

North sea oil peaked in 1999 and Britain became a net energy importer in 2005. This means we cannot live the lifstyle we currently have using our own energy reserves, we have to import the shortfall. Around the globe coutries are experiencing the same problem. With China's economic growth at around 9% and India at 8% the demand for energy has never been higher and the energy that is demanded is oil.

Ask yourself, what will happen when we cannot extract enough oil to go around?

[Rufoman]

Thanks guys, these look like some great links and RedJake that might be just the sort of thing for me to copy and paste on my MSN blog would you mind? With alterations of course and I'll list you as the original author.