Physics Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2013
Publication Source
Sustainability
Abstract
Forty years ago, the results of modeling, as presented in The Limits to Growth, reinvigorated a discussion about exponentially growing consumption of natural resources, ranging from metals to fossil fuels to atmospheric capacity, and how such consumption could not continue far into the future. Fifteen years earlier, M. King Hubbert had made the projection that petroleum production in the continental United States would likely reach a maximum around 1970, followed by a world production maximum a few decades later. The debate about “peak oil," as it has come to be called, is accompanied by some of the same vociferous denials, myths and ideological polemicizing that have surrounded later representations of The Limits to Growth. In this review, we present several lines of evidence as to why arguments for a near-term peak in world conventional oil production should be taken seriously—both in the sense that there is strong evidence for peak oil and in the sense that being societally unprepared for declining oil production will have serious consequences.
Inclusive pages
664-694
ISBN/ISSN
2071-1050
Document Version
Published Version
Copyright
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Volume
5
Issue
2
Peer Reviewed
yes
eCommons Citation
Brecha, Robert, "Ten Reasons to Take Peak Oil Seriously" (2013). Physics Faculty Publications. 3.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/phy_fac_pub/3
Included in
Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons, Physics Commons, Sustainability Commons
