GAO Report on Oil Supply

[Link = GAO Report(pdf)]

This is a link to the recently released report from the United States Government Accountability Office titled "CRUDE OIL - Uncertainty about Future Oil Supply Makes It Important to Develop a Strategy for Addressing a Peak and Decline in Oil Production." I have not read through it yet and there is a lot of commentary out there to sort through so I will not add my comments at this time. After I have absorbed all of the discussion, I will post my thoughts. I will say one thing. This appears to be a real escalation of visibility for the peak oil problem in the United States. As the report states, the United States must be concerned because the United States is the most vulnerable to oil disruptions.

Energy crisis demands immediate attention

“We are not going to reach energy independence in this nation and have better control over our national security as long as we remain dependent on the internal combustion engine and air traffic to move people and goods,” Schlesinger said.

With $5 billion worth of oil being used daily and the world’s existing oil fields in a decline of about 4% a year, Schlesinger detailed three relatively immediate alternatives: conservation, renewable resources and nuclear power. However, his prediction that future demand for oil would mean finding the equivalence of nine Saudia Arabia’s had more of an impact on the crowd.

[Link: CollegiateTimes.com]

People with real credentials are beginning to talk about the energy crisis now. James R. Schlesinger is a bonafide insider and person of knowledge. If you read the message between the lines of this article, it is impossible to deny the need for speed in any solution we bring to the energy table. Sadly, we have very few energy solutions available to us and all of them involve, at least, the whole of American society and probably the entire globe. More unfortunately, there are so very few solutions at the societal level that can be implemented in less than a generation. There is no margin for error and if we fail there will be hell to pay. I wish I were more optimistic about our ability to deal rationally with a problem of this magnitude.

I recently heard someone say that we will be OK because all of history has had a record of progress and advancement of society. I wanted to say that he needed to talk to a few people in Italy during the middle of the dark ages about all of the improvements they saw in their life compared to the Roman empire. We are not on a constant upward slope. "*%$?@" happens and when it does we are not guaranteed a rain check.

The Peak Oil Crisis: The 4 Facets of Peak Oil

Looming just over the horizon are four great storms that soon will have a major impact on nearly all the world’s peoples and their descendents for decades to come. We know these storms are coming, for we can clearly see their outlines and some are already beginning to feel the winds.

We don’t know the exact timing nor the order of these storms’ arrival. We do know that the order in which they come will be important to how these storms interact with what our lifestyles will be like in the years ahead.

[Link: Falls Church News-Press]

Tom Whipple at Falls Church News-Press is always a good read. Sometimes his observations on Peak Oil and the real future are humorous and sometimes not but they are always informative. This article is pretty direct and to the point as usual.
We are facing the four horsemen of the petrocollapse. Physical, geological depletion; political chaos due to the uneven distribution of supplies and consumption; catastrophic environmental effects from uncontrolled oil use, culminating in significant global climate change; and finally economic meltdown as the costs of a critical resource become astronomical. These four "storms" are brewing as we speak and their effects are visible to those who are willing to see. They will all probably become obvious to everyone within a generation. But, as Tom observes, the details are still up in the air. The riders are visible on the ridge, we still can't tell who will get here first.