What will peak oil result in?

Question

Will it result in world wide depression?

New modes of energy being adapted?

Other?

Or do you believe that there is no oil peak existing,at least for a long long time

Answer 1

Practically, what peak oil means (outside of the geological meaning brought up by the previous poster) is the supply of oil will not keep up with demand.  This is happening now - world production has not changed in the last three years while the price has tripled.  If supply were responding to this increase, we would see more supply coming online, and we aren't.  New supplies just make up for depleting supplies elsewhere.

Basically it means that everything that uses oil will become more expensive.  An economic downturn is likely.  Alternatives will become more viable, but due to the size of the population and the amount of energy needed to replace oil, will not replace oil except in certain niche markets.

The best way (now) to deal with energy depletion is use less energy.

DK

Answer 2

It is widely accepted that oil is a finite resource; there are basic laws which describe the depletion of any finite resource:

1. Production starts at zero;

2. Production then rises to a peak which can never be surpassed;

3. Once the peak has been passed, production declines until the resource is depleted.

These simple rules were first described in the 1950s by Dr. M. King Hubbert, and apply to any relevant system, including the depletion of the world’s petroleum resources.

It is important to note that the point of maximum production (known as the Hubbert Peak) tends to coincide with the midpoint of depletion of the resource under consideration. In the case of oil, this means that when we reach the Hubbert Peak, we will have used half of all the recoverable oil that ever existed on our planet.  

In my opinion, the theory is credible as it is founded on mathematical logic.  However, the time frames cannot be identified as the planet wide oil reservoir is unknown, excluding the ones that are currently producing oil.

For your reference please click link below:

http://www.hubbertpeak.com/summary.htm

http://planetforlife.com/oilcrisis/oilpe...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil

Alvin

Answer 3

We have much more oil & gas than we know.. The plants use CO2 to produce O2 and keep the C untill it deteriates into oil & gas... Plants have done it for millions of years and will continue .

Answer 4

There is no peak oil.  That's just a political buzz word propegated by the media and some over-zealous idiots in Washington who use it to scare the public.  They tried to feed us the same line back in the 1970's when Jimmy Carter was in office.  He said we'd be out of oil in 10 years which would have been the late 80's.  Last time I checked, the 1990's has some of the lowest oil prices we had ever seen because we were up to our eyeballs in the stuff. Basically, we have enough oil to sustain us for years to come.