The Oil Drum reports on the Association for the Study of Peak Oil conference.
As Dr. James Schlesinger, the first Secretary of Energy [under Carter], said in his Opening Address, the battle is over, Peak Oil is now accepted as inevitable, and the debate only becomes as to when. We have “won” and need to learn to take Yes! as an answer.
His address had three themes; 1) Recognition of the Peak is growing and the prophets are no longer howling in the wilderness, 2) Don’t rub it in, be gracious in victory else risk alienating recent converts, 3) Patience. Gas-powered automotive transport needs to be replaced, but we don’t know by what yet.
From the belly of the beast comes another convert. Lord Oxburgh, former chair of Shell, has warned that oil prices could hit $150 per barrel and accused the industry of having its “head in the sand” and “sleepwalking into a problem which is actually going to be very serious”
He said it hardly mattered when peak oil production occurred because the real problem is the gap between production and demand.