Peak Oil Documentary on TG4 10:45pm tonight

by PaddyK2 Tue Nov 20, 2007 23:56

Beginning Of The End
by David Schechter

(WCCO) There's a simple idea that powers our vibrant world: We'll never run out of oil. Oil moves our cars, lifts our planes and feeds our families. But it turns out we're wrong about oil. We are running out.
"We ought to give thanks for the last 100 years and realize that the next 100 isn't going to be so easy," said Kenneth Deffeyes, author of "Beyond Oil." Deffeyes is a professor emeritus of geology at Princeton University and a former geologist with Shell Oil. This Thanksgiving, he predicts the world's supply of cheap oil will head into a permanent decline. Cheap oil powered America's love affair with the car. Today, Deffeyes says we're reaching the peak of oil production. The half left in the world will be harder to reach, found in some unfriendly countries and much more expensive. "Are you taking a position that's kind of out there to get people to pay attention, or do you believe in this stuff?" WCCO-TV asked. "No, I'm quite convinced," Deffeyes replied.

Even big oil companies such as Chevron are running ads to prepare us. "Some say we've used up half the world's oil," one commercial says. Not everyone's convinced oil is peaking now. The Chevron Oil Company says it's in 15 years. The U.S. government says it's in 30 years. But most of the big players agree: The peak is coming. The bigger problem is growing demand. People in countries with booming economies, such as China and India, want to drive cars the way Americans do. The trouble is, there just isn't enough for all of us.

Until now, the supply of cheap oil has met demand. The U.N. estimates the world will grow by 1.5 million people in the next 20 years. Demand soars; supply falls; prices rise. David Garman, President Bush's undersecretary of energy, also agrees oil production will peak one day. "What's the president's responsibility in leading us to a better energy future?" WCCO-TV asked. "The president believes that technology is the key to a better energy future," Garman replied. That would be technology to find more oil, and technology to build more efficient cars.

Others, such as Matt Simmons, say it will mean technology and sacrifice. Simmons leads the world's largest energy investment bank and has been an energy advisor to President Bush. "You win the energy war by addressing transportation," Simmons said. For Simmons, it's simple. We have to drastically reduce the amount we drive. That will conserve enough oil in the short term to develop a variety of alternative energy sources, "basically buying ourselves a lot of time to go on an R&D binge to try to invent some new forms of energy that don't exist today," Simmons explained. But switching to those new forms of energy will cost trillions of dollars and take 20 years or more.

Rep. Jim Oberstar, DFL-Minnesota, says politicians need to wake up now, "before that day of Armageddon appears when we're all sitting on the freeways in our cars, our hands fixed on the steering wheel, running out of the last drop of gas." Whether the beginning of the end comes this month or some month in the near future, the question is still the same: What are we going to do about it? Many people think Saudi Arabia can just pump more oil and solve the problem. Simmons says the Saudis are pumping their oil fields harder than ever just to meet today's demands, let alone the demands of the future. While the U.S. Senate just voted to allow drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, that might not make a difference. Even if you pumped all the oil of Alaska, it wouldn't solve the problem.

by . - . Wed Nov 21, 2007 00:11

http://www.flickr.com/photos/avyakata/2050323507/

by Terence Wed Nov 21, 2007 12:02

It is good to see TG4 covering this very important topic which will soon impact all our lives. As many who follow this topic, the name Richard Heinberg is very prominent and his monthly Museletter is very informative and always seems to be a few months ahead of current thought.

For a long time now, he has been one of the more level headed people in this arena and has consistently pushed for and advocated sane solutions such as the Oil Depletion Protocol, but in this latest interview and part 2 of it (Youtube, above), he clearly has lost any hope that the political system will do anything and that people will wake up to the dimensions of the problem.

It's well worth watching.