About
The phenomenon of “Peak Oil” is a well documented and extensively debated phenomenon. The peak in global oil production will, according to many experts, occur earlier than previously expected by oil industry experts and economic analysts. Among the people who have been active in this debate, questioning the official estimates, are retired oil geologists, such as Professor Kenneth Deffeyes, independent analysts, such as Richard Heinberg and Julian Darley of The Post Carbon Institute and petroleum consultant Peter Tertzakian. The Swedish research academy The 
Royal Academy of Sciences, in a 2005 report “Statements on Oil”, stated that already by then 54 of the 65 largest oil producing countries had reached their production peaks. At this point in time the ability of Saudi Arabia to increase production volumes was now known. In the same year the petroleum consultant Matthew Simmons published “Twilight in the Desert”, which calls into question the ability of Saudi Arabia to increase production and make up for the reductions of other oil producing countries.
More recently, in the winter of 2008 the International Energy Agency, which monitors global oil production, stated that oil production was in decline and that large investments in wells and drilling were necessary to reduce the steepness of the reduction. The daily global oil production now amounts to 83,5 milliion barrels per day, down from the peak of approximately 87 million barrels per day. This truly amazing amount of oil that is produced and used on a DAILY basis forms a tremendous challenge now that we need to develop renewable energy sources on a large scale to gradually replace it, or dramatically reduce our dependence on oil. In order to transform US transportation systems to biofuels farmers would need to use all the land in the country for the growing of energy crops and forests are only sufficient to supply a share of the fuel needs on a sustainable basis.
In order to transform energy systems on a large scale we need to analyze the situation and the alternatives, develop a strategy and a plan and tightly manage the transformation project. Global Energy Transformation Institute works with the strategic and management issues related to the large scale transformation of global energy systems.
About Mats R. Larsson
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Mats Visits GWU June 21
