Oil Has Peaked: Now Begins the Transition

We have officially entered the post-oil age in which the transition to lower energy lives is inevitable.

As The Oil Drum pointed out last week, oil has peaked. We have officially entered the post-oil age in which the transition to lower energy lives is inevitable. (No doubt, pundits and policy wonks will debate this ad nauseum for the far too long, and to them I say, “AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”)

This energy transition can happen gracefully with fore-thought and planning, or, if we continue to consume energy at our current rate, the transition will be brought about faster and meaner than home redecoration by Blackwater. Shaun Chamberlin, author of The Transition Timeline: For a Local, Resilient Future, explores the implication of peak oil.

The following is an excerpt from Transition Timeline:

A 2005 report commissioned by the US Department of Energy concluded that,

“the peaking of world oil production presents the US and the world with an unprecedented risk management problem,”

and that without timely mitigation the economic, social and political impacts will be

“abrupt, revolutionary and not temporary”.

The reasons for this are detailed and complex, but ultimately it comes down to this