Physics Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

Publication Source

American Journal of Physics

Abstract

We revisit a series of papers on science and society issues by David Hafemeister in the 1970s and 1980s. The emphasis in the present work is on world oil production limits and some consequences of various possible scenarios for the near future. Some of the data and scenarios used by Hafemeister are updated for U.S. oil production in the past two decades and extended to an analysis of a peak in world oil production in the future. We discuss some simple scenarios for future energy use patterns and look at the consequence of these scenarios as world oil production begins to decline. We also provide a list of resources for critical investigations of natural resource extraction and depletion patterns.

Inclusive pages

916-930

ISBN/ISSN

0002-9505

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

Article is provided for download in compliance with the publisher's policy on self-archiving. Permission documentation is on file.

Publisher

American Association of Physics Teachers

Volume

75

Peer Reviewed

yes

Link to published version

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