Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
negotiable”, but a more correct statement would be to say:
“Negotiating with nature is not possible.”
1.
Peak Oil
The potential threat to humanity from global warming is in the
intermediate term, that is, decades rather than centuries. There is
however, a shorter term event, that is, years rather than decades,
looming on the horizon that is likely to overshadow concerns
about global warming and other problems caused by ecological
overload.
I am referring to the coming peak in global oil production. The
coming decline in oil supplies is not a threat to survival as such,
but is going to cause a more immediate crisis that is a threat to our
whole way of life. The basic problem is summarised in the Fig. 1.3,
which shows that net additions to global oil reserves have been
declining for several decades.
Figure 1.
Oil discovery and consumption [2].
We are consuming more each year than we are discovering. In
other words, oil reserves in the ground are decreasing for every
year that goes by. Until now, supply has always exceeded demand,
but just as reserves are decreasing, demand is increasing, especially
from China and India. Thus, it is only a question of time before
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