The World After Cheap Oil

The book "The World After Cheap Oil" by Richard Heinberg provides a comprehensive overview of the peak oil phenomenon and its potential consequences. The book argues that we are currently living at the peak of oil production and that without cheap oil, everything in our society will come to a halt. The book also discusses potential substitutes for oil and their limitations, as well as the many risks and problems associated with the peak oil phenomenon. The book concludes with a discussion of the future of oil production and the implications of peak oil for society as a whole.

Substantial evidence suggests that we are currently living at the peak of oil production with few prospects for cheap oil ever returning. Yet the media, politicians and regular people have hardly started to talk about what this means. Oil literally runs our societies from transportation to food production to economic activity. Without oil, everything stops. There are powerful arguments that if we fail to increase oil production, we will also fail to grow our economy as a whole. For oil importing western nations the news is bleak; higher oil prices seem to put a glass ceiling on their economic growth, making current debt problems worse no matter what monetary and economic policies we might choose. The World After Cheap Oil offers a thorough package of information about oil; its uses and its role in our society's important sectors. It presents the most prominent substitutes and alternatives, and their limits and promises. It also delves deep into the many risks, problems and mechanisms that can make the world after cheap oil a much more unstable place for nations and humanity as a whole. The book also explains why there has been so little public debate on the subject, and what the future might look like after oil production starts its final, terminal decline. Review: If you are already familiar with the peak oil literature, this book will provide you with a comprehensive, up-to-date summary that covers nearly every relevant topic within this field. If you are new to this discussion, prepare to have your world shaken. -Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute