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3 Peak oil
For full article see Hubbert peak
There has been much debate recently about "peak oil", i.e. the point at which half of the worlds oil reserves have been used, and world oil production peaks and then goes into irreversible decline. Proponent of this point out that oil is being used much faster than it is being found, and that as current oil fields go into decline there wont be enough new ones to replace them. Many experts claim that this point will occur within the next decade, whilst others argue that it will not happen for several decades.
If the oil peak does occur then oil supply will no longer be able to keep up with demand, leading to dramatic price rises and probably severe economic recession and geopolitical ramifications. And will probably lead to large scale efforts to develop alternative forms of energy, and energy conservation.
4 Future and alternative sources of energy
Many scholars argue that the world is heading towards a global energy crisis mostly from running out of cheap oil and recommend decreasing dependency on fossil fuel. This has caused many to invest in alternate fuel research such as fuel cell technology, hydrogen fuel, methanol, solar energy, tidal energy and wind energy. But so far, only hydroelectricity and nuclear power have seen significant usage.
At the same time, dire predictions by groups such as the Club of Rome that the world would run out of oil in the late 20th century have not come to pass, in part because technology has made oil extraction more efficient.
5 See also
6 External links
