Wednesday, May 20, 2009

From local to global: Hubbert's Peak versus Peak Oil

The term Peak Oil is now used to refer to the point (Oil Peak would be more appropriate, but sounds greasy) at which the maximum of global oil production is reached and production starts to decline. This is or will not be the end of oil, but the end of efficiently produced (if it ever was) and cheap oil. The term Hubbert's Peak refers to the local maximum (peak in U.S. oil production) that was predicted in 1956 by geophysicist M. King Hubbert to happen in the early 1970s, when indeed an oil crisis was experienced.

Suggested Reading
[1] Charles A. S. Hall and John W. Day, Jr.: Revisiting the Limits to Growth After Peak Oil. American Scientist, May-June 2009, 97, pp. 230-237.
Article
[2] Kenneth S. Deffeyes: Hubbert's Peak. The Impending World Oil Shortage. Revised and Updated Paperback Edition. Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, 2001.
[3] Paul Roberts: The End of Oil. On the Edge of a Perilous New World. Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003, 2004.

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