Phil Hart

After Part One, this is Part Two of my thoughts on some of the energy related themes of this ASPO conference and where we find ourselves now.

On my first return visit to Scotland and Europe, I happened to be near the right place at the right time for my first ASPO conference since Pisa in 2006. In two parts, here are my thoughts on some of the energy related themes of the conference.

It has often been said that we would only be able to see peak oil by looking in the rear view mirror. It’s well past time for a head-check, so this post provides a quick look back at production over the last five years and at some of the predictions I and others have made.

For those addicted to more roads, airports and the sweet smell of gasoline, the IEA’s 2010 World Energy Outlook includes some pretty sober reading.

In World Energy Outlook 2009, the International Energy Agency seems to have dropped a bombshell that has been quietly (and politely) ignored. In their main ‘reference scenario’, the IEA forecasts that OECD demand has already peaked – it never recovers the levels seen before the oil price spikes and financial crisis unfolded.

The Government and Opposition today voted against a Greens motion in the Senate calling on the Government to plan for peak oil.