Naturally there are many who are skeptical of Peak Oil. In the interest of balance (since the majority of what I post in the energy crisis section takes Peak Oil for granted), here is an article from the National Post arguing that the Invisible Hand will save the day.
“Peak oil” mania is another variant of anti-economic thinking. We are allegedly on the point of reaching the highest possible level of global output, whereupon economics will cease to function and our societies will be in danger of collapsing like the stone head cultists of Easter Island.
That oil production will peak some day appears obvious. That we are there, or almost there, is highly unlikely. The U.S. Geological Survey and the IEA put the likely peak production points between 15 and 25 years away, but whatever the precise date, markets will provide signals for the development of alternatives in good time. Indeed, they are already doing so.
Related Comments (2)
[…] ore Peak Oil Skepticism: Abiotic Oil
Another common counter-argument [the first being The Invisible Hand] to peak oil fears is the theory of Abiotic Oil. “Statistical […]
This is exactly the type of ‘head in the sand’ short term foolishness that has got us into this problem in the first place. Putting money and success ahead of the future of our planet is a typical greed driven argument. We knew about this 20 years ago and as there was no short term profit in the solution (hydrogen engine failure), the governments and big business dropped their interest. An article on your website mentions the explanation of what would happen if malaysia ran out of oil. Anybody who thinks that we can protect the last remnants of this fuel and carry on successfully is seriously underestimating what the rest of the world would do. If they think there is a refugee crisis now, what do you think would happen if half of europe and all of india decided to emigrate to the USA tomorrow????