Tag Archives: fossil fuels

World Energy Consumption Since 1820 in Charts

Figure 1 shows the huge increase in world energy consumption that has taken place in roughly the last 200 years. This rise in energy consumption is primarily from increased fossil fuel use. With energy consumption rising as rapidly as shown … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications, Oil and Its Future | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 137 Comments

More Reasons Why We are Reaching Limits to Growth

In a recent post, I talked about why we may be reaching Limits to Growth of the type foretold in the 1972 book Limits to Growth. I would like to explain some additional reasons now. In my earlier post, I … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications, Planning for the Future | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 91 Comments

Where do continued high oil prices lead us?

We know high oil prices have an adverse impact on the economy, often leading to recession. According to Economist James Hamilton, 10 out of 11 of US recessions since World War II have been associated with oil price spikes. But … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications, Planning for the Future | Tagged , , , , , , | 67 Comments

Oil Limits, Recession, and Bumping Against the Growth Ceiling

The issues we are confronted with today seem to be a subset of the issues foretold in the book Limits to Growth back in 1972. At some point, the economy cannot continue to grow as rapidly as it did in the past. … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications, Introductory Post | Tagged , , , , | 115 Comments

Steep oil decline or slow oil decline?

Someone wrote asking the following question: Dear Gail, I have been reading quite a bit about peak oil recently. I get the impression (not based on data) that at some point there will be a quite steep decline in oil … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications, Oil and Its Future | Tagged , , , , , | 25 Comments