Thursday, May 6, 2010

Peak Oil Theory: Gross vs. Net Hubbert Curve


Oil crisis due to peak oil will come sooner than most people have thought and when it comes, it will be more severe than people have thought. The reason is that the argument put forward by some analysts relies on Hubbert's curve, which shows a bell shaped amount of oil production. Hubbert's curve on itself is already damning, that is oil production declines quickly after it reaches peak. However, what matters is not the amount of that can be produced. Rather, the amount of oil that can be consumed, which is equivalent to the amount of oil that can be produced minus the amount of oil needed for extraction, refinement, and transportation. As an oil field is depleted, it takes more and more energy to extract/refine it. The latter, called net Hubbert curve, shows a drop off that comes sooner and the angle of the drop off is steeper.

Here is the curve. The blue one is Hubbert curve, and the grey one is Net Hubbert curve

Action Items:
1. Conserve energy whenever you can
2. Demand our politicians to come up with policy to conserve energy

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