After the Oil Runs out by James Jordan and James R. Powell

“After the Oil Runs Out” by James Jordan and James R. Powell appeared in the Sunday, June 6th Outlook section of The Washington Post on page B7. The author analyzes Hubbert's Peak; it is a concept developed a half-century ago by a geologist named M. King Hubbert in which Hubbert argued that at a certain point oil production peaks, and thereafter it steadily declines regardless of demand. Jordan and Powell show how this concept can be used to explain what is going on today at the gas pump. They find that oil experts concur that hitting Hubbert's Peak is inevitable; however, these experts do not know at what point we hit the peak. Unfortunately, almost half of the oil deposited by nature has already been extracted. However, the authors predict that there are two bigger concerns that emerge from the Hubbert’s Peak hypothesis: the impact of declining oil production on society, the ways to minimize its effects. They then assess the detrimental effects a decrease in oil production will have on society if the issue is not addressed soon. Jordan and Powell suggest that we need new technologies, especially for transportation, such as synthetic fuels from coal, hydrogen fuel from nuclear and renewable power sources, and electrified transport: light rail, rail and maglev.

This article has shed some light on two very problematic areas dealing with my familiarity with oil: gas prices and our dependency as a society on oil reliant technologies. The authors interestingly reveal that because production cannot meet demand, the price of oil will rapidly and continuously escalate and economies and living