Sun Scientific Glass

If you've never heard of peak oil before then you're not alone. It has got a bit of mainstream coverage, but on the whole it is not talked about very much. The first thing that this article is gong to explore, then, is what it's all about. And then it will explain how solar energy can combat it.

The Theory Of Peak Oil

The basics of the peak oil theory are very basic. It states that, as oil is going to run out, there will come a time when we are not able to extract as much as we could before. However that's not going to be because it's not there, but simply because it is more difficult to extract.

Now just about everyone accepts that oil is a finite resource. There are some that claim that it comes about due to abiotic processes and that it isn't going to run out, but not many people subscribe to that view. So we can say with pretty much certainty that oil is going to run out at some stage.

It is the conventional view, however, that oil is not going to run out for hundreds of years as there is still so much of it yet. And yet the peak oil theorists state that there isn't as much as we think, and that doesn't really matter because once you get to about half way you won't be able to get out as much.

Here's the way that peak oil is supposed to work. When you first have an oil well, getting the oil is easy. And each year you're able to get out more than the previous year. However at some point this is going to slow down and then stop. When you consistently can't get out more than you got out before, then you'll be at the peak.

When you're at the peak, you might be able to get the same amount out for a few years. You'll never be able to get more than you did before though, and pretty soon you'll be getting less. And soon after that you'll have to give up because it won't be profitable to get any more oil out.

Is there any evidence that this is the way it works though? Certainly there is, from some of the oldest oil fields in the world, in the USA. They were once able to export oil they had so much of it, but now of course they have to import oil because they've used most of theirs up. And some say that if this has hasn't happened to the world yet, it will soon.

There is some evidence for this in the rising price of oil. After all the harder it is to extract, and the less of it there is, the more the prices are going to go up. At some point there will be a stage where energy costs so much that businesses are not able to run at a profit. And that is where economic collapse will hit in. Some say that is what has already happened, and that the economy is never going to recover because we do not have enough energy.

Solar Power

This is where the importance of solar power comes in. Whether the peak oil theory is right or not, at some point we'll run out of oil. When that happens, we had better be using an alternative source of energy or else the economy will permanently collapse.

The only alternative energy sources that we have available are renewable sources. They're not as efficient, and we're not using very much of them, but they are probably our best hope. Of course there are all different sorts, but solar power is probably the best that we have.