Platts Coverage Of ASPO 3 In Houston - Dark Clouds, No Silver Linings

[hatrack]

EDIT

The details differ, but the broad message is consistent. Saudi oil production has peaked, according to some; others see a peak in the future, but a peak nonetheless. Jeffrey Brown, an independent geologist, was particularly bleak on Thursday, showing how exports from the world's biggest exporters, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, are going to run up against a combination of increasing domestic demand at home and declining or flat production, and shipments to other countries are going to fall, if they haven't already.

David Hughes of the Canadian Geological Survey, echoed Matt Simmons, peak oil's best known proselytizer and the day's luncheon speaker, in saying that there will be a coming conflict between the world's desire to cut carbon emissions against sustainability of energy supplies, and that the latter will win out. He called it "the elephant that is going to be sitting on our chest."

The mainstream media is not covering the issue, thundered a few other speakers, and the world's leaders need to wake up the general public to the growing problem. (The Barrel was surprised, in an era of now $90 oil, that media attendance seemed to be minimal.)

EDIT

-Several speakers touched on a familiar topic, that even if the world wants to consume more coal, or build more nuclear plants, or put up more windmills, the rate at which that is going to need to occur is staggering. This was an extreme case, but Scott Pugh, a retired Navy captain, said in order to run all vehicles on hydrogen or nuclear fuel, and assuming we use nuclear power to extract the hydrogen, the world would need to build 10 plants per year for 100 years. Similar analogies by the speakers also provided a torrent of what appeared to be utterly unreachable infrastructure needs.

EDIT

http://www.platts.com/weblog/oilblog/2007/10/report_from_aspo_dark_clouds_n.html

[msongs]

1. sunshine is free, 24 hours a day nt

[malakai2]

2. And fossil fuels are a concentrated form of solar energy...

Just look how far that will carry us!

This has me rethinking my aversion to rural South Dakota. I may not like the politics, or most of the people, but the land is relatively cheap, the people are few and far between, and if I can't raise enough proper crops to carry me for the year, I can always go forage for something tasty on the prairie. A bit tougher to do that in New York or Chicago.