NPR's latest

'Peak Oil Theory' Demands Energy Alternatives

So many folks lament about the dismal (even dire) state of the economy, but few suggest it has anything to do with peak oil.  

Oil on the Brain

NPR : Lisa Margonelli, Concerned with 'Oil on the Brain'

See also NPR's collection, Paying at the Pump.

media

Tv
CBS: Greener Horizons
BBC: Fueling the Future, Education
PBS: EXTREME OIL

Press
NY Times: The Energy Challenge
Chicago Tribune: Oil:A Travelogue of Addiction

Radio
NPR: Paying at the Pump

Videos, etc
See my earlier post, Materials on energy

As heard on NPR

Today, Morning Edition presented a piece with Matthew Simmons* and Daniel Yergin, pessimist vs. optimist. On listening to it, who do you think is the realist? This piece is part of NPR's series, The Future of Fuel.

See the earlier series on Boston NPR, pre State of the Union 2006, Addicted to Oil. Thomas L. Friedman is featured in the first of the 4 shows. He mentions a project with Discovery Channel. [His film premiered at Silverdocs Film Festival and broadcast on Discovery Channel on June 24, 2006.]

*Simmons who was featured on CNN Presents, We Were Warned, suggests here that global oil consumption is analogous to a car running out of gas.

the inside scoop

Here's a much-talked-about piece by Peter Maass, The Breaking Point, that was printed in the N.Y. Times Magazine in August. Also here's an audio interview on NPR with Mr. Maass.

In another interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Mr. Maass states:

let's say for example; that indeed, there are limits to what they can produce. If they just all of a sudden announced to the world; you know what, guys, we're not going to be able to produce 12.5 million barrels a day. You'll have to develop alternative energy sources. You're going to have to start conserving energy. Then, two things are likely to happen, in the immediate term. One, is that the price of oil, which is already quite high; will skyrocket even more. And, the second - and, for the Saudis, more troubling kind of result, would be movements, in America and elsewhere; towards alternative fuels. Government programs to investigate and promote them. There would be movements, towards conservation of energy. And, the result of that - not immediately, but, five or ten years down the road. Is that, indeed; there might be alternatives to oil.

This means that such a well-connected reporter as Mr. Maass has no information to share about what needs to sustain our civilization in the long-term, alternate fuels. We know from Lee Raymond's words that scientific studies of that kind were done at least 20 years ago, and surely they have been done recently. Might Mr. Maass now be researching that problem for his new book?