What’s that peak oil thing you keep jabbering on about?

“Peak oil” is the phrase used to describe the point where the world’s oil supply, well, peaks. A fairly easy concept there. It’s the best we can do, and the best we will ever do, when it comes to pumping conventional crude oil out of the ground. After peak oil, it’s all downhill, production-wise.

Too many people think that peak oil means that the oil is going to run out, and that’s not quite right. The oil will not run out. Not ever. It will, over time, get increasingly rare and probably expensive (before it’s worthless), but there will always be at least a little bit of oil for us to use. Well, for someone to use. Probably not you and me, unless I sell a whole shipload of books. No pressure.