Petroleum is so deeply entrenched in our economy, politics, and daily lives that even modest efforts to phase it out, are fought tooth and nail. Companies and governments depend on oil revenues. Developing nations see oil as their only means to industrial success. And, the Western middle class refuses to modify its energy-dependent lifestyle.
But, even by conservative estimates, we will have burned through most of the world's accessible oil within mere decades. What will we use in its place to maintain a global economy and political system that are entirely reliant on cheap, readily available energy?
In The End of Oil, journalist Paul Roberts talks to both oil optimists and pessimists around the world. He delves deep into the economics and politics, considers the promises and pitfalls of oil alternatives, and shows that, even though the world energy system has begun its epochal transition, we need to take a more proactive stance to avoid catastrophic disruption and dislocation.
