Peak Oil

Peak oil is the phenomenon of depleting oil reserves. The 'peak' is when production is at its maximum; after the peak it will go down and if this happens world wide, hell can break loose. The demand for oil will continue to rise for the next 40 years, mainly because of the economic growth of China, India, Russia and Brazil. Production will decrease, this automatically leads to increased prices (high demand + low production = high prices), even further fueled by speculation.
A lot of countries and areas already experienced a peak in production and are declining, see:

It is unknown when the worldwide peak will happen. Speculations are somewhere between 2010 and 2040. A slightly negative view of what could happen:

Note that this graph has been made in 2005, BEFORE the financial crisis. As you can see the unemployment and recession as predicted in the graph is already taking place now, anno 2010. Next thing to happen are brownouts and blackouts, though I think this will only happen when the production of oil will suddenly decrease, not as a result of regular depleting resources.

My own prediction is that the next 10 years will be okay, maybe oil prices now and then rising above 100-120 dollar per barrel, but no big deal. After that things will get worse. As I see it now, both politicians and most people don't want to spend too much money on wind/solar power or even nuclear plants. Only when oil prices will reach $150 or even $200 and remain above that for at least 3 years people will wake up. Then it will be too late though. Not only will electricity and car fuel become very expensive (expect at least 3x the current prices), but also ALL the products you buy in the supermarket or at any other store will become way more expensive. This is because the price of oil and therefore the price of fuels and electricity has a direct effect on ALL prices.
Governments all over the world will invest in wind power and/or nuclear, and eventually the demand for oil will decrease as well. Just in time before famine and anarchy will take place.
Summary of my prediction:

It's uncertain when this all will happen, maybe a huge oil deposit will be found under the north pole, or in Siberia or Brazil or wherever. But, finding new oil only POSTPONES the peak oil. There is no way it can be prevented at all.

Sleep well,

Matt

Wind Power!

Hi green followers,

Wind power, the future? Or will solar power eventually become more reliable?

Here are some interesting figures about wind power per country (mostly wiki):

Wind power in megawatts per country, 2009:

1. USA - 35,159
2. Germany - 25,777
3. China - 25.104
4. Spain - 19.149
5. India - 10.925

USA on top, but remember, these are absolute figures. If we look per capita, the top 5 looks totally different, that would contain countries like Denmark and Portugal. USA would probably not even reach to the top 25 of countries with per capita wind energy.

Also there are huge differences in growth of wind power. China is currenltly the quickest grower and will probably be the no. 1 wind power generator in 2 or 3 years from now. USA grows a little slower and Germany is lacking behind (though investing a lot of money in solar energy, they are no. 1 in the world with that).

Keep you updated.
Matt

Renewable energy

Hello world,

I've just started this blog. I'm going to give you updates about the world of renewable energy. Wind power, solar panels, fusion energy, electric cars, all pass the venue.

Stand by for lots of interesting info and opinions!


Greetings,
Matt