Peak Oil For Real

Oh yea, another thing I want to mention here is the idea of peak oil. After listenign to president Bush talk about the current oil issues in the world, I got worried and started doing some research online about oil. Apparently, peak oil is the point in time when the world maxes out the amount of oil produced per day or whatever, and from that maximum the amount of oil produced can only decrease from the maximum.

For the past couple of years, the supply of oil produced has been somewhat constant, whereas the demand for oil is continuing to rise because of growing population and industries. This means that the increase in demand and competition for the now constant supply of oil production is causing oil prices to rise. People are asking, why can't we produce more oil? This is because our oil refineries are running out of oil and the equipment to drill new oil factories are all breaking down and the time to set up new oil factories will take several years. People are saying we have already used up half the world's oil supply and that we'll basically run out within the next 10 years or so. Most of these are just estimates, some being more radical than others. But the fact that oil supply is not increasing is disturbing enough. I'm starting to think the oil situation is alot more severe than most people think. What if the real reason for all the fighting in the middle east and Bush warring with Iraq is because oil is running so low and we need to fight there to keep our country running?

But then again, if the oil situation was this severe, wouldn't there be more regulation of oil usage, such as no more Nascar racing, conservative use of plane flights, more public transportation, etc? I hope this is the case. It could also be the case that people are just selling every bit of oil they dig up with no idea how much oil is actually left. Seriously, if I started up an oil company, I'd be selling every bit I dig up to make bank. I know about oil reserves, but I also read articles about how they are not as large as many people think with many miscalculations in the amount actually stored.

I read some articles about the possibility of a post-industrial stone age. People growing food in the back yard, using campfires for heat in the winter. Goodness. I hope the leaders of this world are capable to smoothly transition the world off the need to run off oil. Otherwise, we'll be stuck in wild chaotic warfare among nations for the last bit of oil that remains in the years to come.