Problems

"Energy will be one of the defining issues of this century. One thing is clear; the era of easy oil is over...We can wait until a crisis forces us to do something. Or we can commit to working together, and start by asking the tough questions."
-David J. O'reillyChairman & C.E.O.Chevron Corporation


-Global Climate Change

Global climate change is natural trend of planet earth, but the Human-caused (anthropogenic) climate change is a direct result of an over-reliance on cheap energy. The combustion of fossil fuels releases large amounts of greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere, so named because they trap solar radiation and warm the surface of the planet.
http://www.postcarbon.org/informed/environment

-‘peak’

Refers to the instance when the extraction rate of a resource reaches its highest level, and thereafter begins into inexorable decline. The term is most commonly used in the context of oil, using the phrases ‘peak oil’ or ‘oil peak’. The concept of ‘peak oil’ was first used by research geologist M. King Hubbert, in 1949, and more definitively in 1956.


"We may be at a point of peak oil production. You may see $100 a barrel oil in the next two or three years."
-Bill Clinton, former US President, March 28, 2006, London Business School



-Post-Petroleum

Is a movement that is taking action and planning for the concerns about the repercussions of declining oil and natural gas for our everyday needs and society.

-Energy descent

“The continual decline in net energy supporting humanity, a decline which mirrors the ascent in net energy that has taken place since the Industrial Revolution. It also refers to a future scenario in which humanity has successfully adapted to the declining net energy availability and has become more localized and self-reliant. It is a term favored by people looking towards energy peak as an opportunity for positive change rather than an inevitable disaster. http://transitionculture.org/what-is-energy-descent/

-Energy Conservation

"Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it cannot be the basis of a sound energy policy."
Vice President Dick Cheney

-The current society is not conscious of the energy that we use on a daily basis.

-Most people do not think they can contribute much to help conserve energy.

-Americans use 2 times as much energy as the British, two and a half times as much energy as the Japanese, and 106 times as much energy as those in Bangladesh!

“We, as individuals, may think there is not much we can do to help conserve energy, but through many simple behavioral changes, we all can do a lot. We live in a society where most of us do not give much thought to the energy that we use on a daily basis. Yet, by understanding the basics of energy, we are more likely to want to conserve it and use more efficient resources.”
http://www.wilson.edu/wilson/asp/content.asp?id=818