The Recent Hubbert Peak of World Oil Production, its Likely Impacts on Population, Lifestyles, Conflicts, Globalization, and the Environment; and the Challenge and Opportunity it Offers ISES

摘要

A few years ago we reached the "World Hubbert Peak in Petroleum Production," just like Dr. Marion King Hubbert had predicted over 40 years ago. Dr. Farrington Daniels, the founder of the AFASE (Association for Applied Solar Energy) group that later became ISES, was keenly aware of the Hubbert predictions at the time, and almost certainly started the group that became ISES because of this. The ever decreasing availability of petroleum that we can expect in the future, plus the challenges of global warming, make the present a very critical point in the history of humanity and of ISES: the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era, and the beginning of the age of solar energy. ISES could play an important role in the future. Many ISES members are however still oblivious to the oil peak and its implications for solar energy. It is time for these ISES members to recognize what has happened, and it is time for ISES to examine the challenges and the possibilities that lie ahead. The challenges are enormous, and the possibilities are huge.