No it didnt, but who's fault is that? So then who are you blaming for using the oil? The alien blue people that popped out of the ground or people from all over the world? Just like they use oil in every other developed nation on the planet. So people will leave the U.S and you dont think they will use oil elsewhere like they already do? Not entirely, some countries have very little immigration and dont want it. Why would i be sensitive about that? I am an immigrant, though i had no choice in the decision otherwise i would be right back where i came from and using the internet like all the other people in so many other countries. Doesnt matter to me.
When you look at consumption (which you are part of), many of the countries dont even have the populations of one state in the U.S. If you broke the U.S down into separate states then the per capita consumption would be about the same.
The top 3 world rankings are neck-in-neck in terms of per-capita oil consumption: Saudi Arabia, the USA, and Canada. But because the USA makes foreign and economic policy as a nation, we are by far the most voracious consumer of petroleum (about 25% of world consumption by a 5% minority of world population). US infrastructure and lifestyles are particularly dependent upon cheap energy packaged as petroleum. Whether people immigrate to the US or not, global petroleum demand is approaching an unprecedented point where that demand will exceed supply. Immigration history or policy in the USA does not have a lot of bearing on the global equation of petroleum supply and demand. It isn't necessary to move to the USA to buy a car. It's true that when a society is under stress, some people act out with xenophobia and racism. These are not rational responses, especially in an ever more integrated world. Immigration, culture, and race may continue to be flashpoints of conflict, but they have nothing to do with the colorblind mathematics of supply and demand. Never again will the world see a petroleum-burning spree like the one that is winding down now in the USA. Millions more petroleum consumers are arriving late to the party, and they will devour all surplus in the world market very soon. As competition intensifies, it's going to be a more challenging transition for us, because we have always been the most oil-addicted and oil-squandering country on earth.
That is the key right there. And no, it isnt necessary to move to the U.S and buy a car, personally i only owned a car myself for a few years (about three) and havent owned one for over ten years, not because of this though. I am well aware of the peak oil situation, and we really dont know for sure about it due to limited information. The point i was making is that if you dispersed all the people in the U.S since the industrial age then they would have went elsewhere and the situation would be no different than it is now because those people would have brought technology along with them. Still, that technology has been distributed to other nations, i can only imagine how many computers they buy in Asia, for example. So you take all those people and put them in Mexico, for example. What would have changed? Canda, China, Europe take your pick.
Please give back your high school diploma and ask for your money back. If you separate the states one by one that doesn't effect the average consumption per capita!!!! And yes, Americans on average use 4 times more oil than most countries... That is the whole point of comparing averages!!! So you can compare a big country with a small one.... Fucking DUH!!!
@ John99 - seems we mostly agree, except for my contention that the USA is the most unruly and belligerent of all the petro-partiers, and headed for the biggest petro-hangover on the planet. I think that's a shame, because we're hurting a lot of people and avoiding our oil-dependency problem while it escalates into crisis.
We still have tons of oil, the only reason why we have peak oil is because we don't have Enough refineries to Produce Enough, which is bull shit as well, I still get gas with ease at the pump? So yeah peak oil is an excuse for big oil companies and Governments to make huge profits, pay for wars at our expense.
it clearly depends on where you live. out here where im at, southern california LA suburbs, living without a car is nearly impossible. public transportation is completely lacking. most americans need cars. thats not true. the US has been able to consume so much not because of its diverse population and technology but rather because of its military power and influence... and the fact that the US was the worlds largest oil extracting nation in the mid 20th century. we got used to that lifestyle, when the oil ran out, we looked elsewhere (aka middle east) population size and diversity have nothing to do with it. chinas population is 3 times ours, yet they consume less. really? peak oil is rarely ever mentioned in the national media. i dont think its an excuse but rather the real reason as to why the united states foreign policy is so aggressive.
The problem with this issue is that the nations which will suffer from it most are also the nations with a great amount of power, heavily industrialized countries which are heavy oil consumers and are now highly dependent on it due to its benefits. Its obvious that our solution lies on renewable energy and how quickly our transition towards it becomes. Along with measures to reduce our current oil consumption. I heard this quote while researching this subject... "If you wanna make a car twice as efficient add a passenger." so...the solution to the problem is technically there, the problem is acting on it. It is obvious that we are not, considering most of our(USA) resources are being spent securing the oil reserves, instead of focusing on technological improvements for solar and wind energy. The main concerns with this issue is that once the problem becomes significantly more apparent to our populations(which it inevitably will), what will we do about it? Is this a perfect recipe for wars? I prefer being an optimist and saying no... For the very simple reason that any full scale conflict between industrialized nations will inevitably lead to mutually assured destruction. Swallowing public unrest, famine and revolts will be a much cheaper choice than pointing the finger at another nation and sending the revolt to their doorstep. After all, when was the last time two countries with nuclear capabilities had a full scale war? Theres a reason why it hasn't happened in the past 60 years this technology has been around. Combine that with the fact that we will waste even more oil fighting over it... we would have to be extremely stupid to start a war over this... but who knows.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I personally think the problem will be addressed once it hits us, just because our politicians aren't scientists, money drives everything... and corporations will want to profit on oil as much as possible before its no longer viable. None of the industrialized nations have politicians that truly care about their people. Corporate power governs just about everything and we are draining a finite resource which cannot be easily replaced. My guess is millions will die, billions will be impoverished to worst conditions than now, and there will be a larger separation between the rich and the poor throughout the world. Combine this with the fact that we also are running out of water. Hmmmm..... maybe its time I move to a remote island somewhere.
Being more oil addicted is going to make Americans suffer more as oil prices rise. We have invested a lot of money into building a car based suburbia in which the vast majority of Americans live. As oil prices rise Suburbia will have to be retrofitted and partially abandoned. Local zoning authority may need to be overridden.
Worse than that: China is locking up supplies in long term contracts, plus the fact they have the money to pay for oil and need not lend any to the US. I have long predicted the US and EU will slid into deep depression soon after the run on the dollar / dollar collapse, which years ago I went on record as saying would happen before Halloween 2014. If it does not simply happen by the damage GWB did (and that is what allowed me to predict the coming depression while he has more than a year yet as POTUS) to US, China can send US & EU into depression whenever it is to China's advantage. Not yet to China's advantage. China needs to convert more to a domestic based economy and is rapidly doing so. Not for a few years more, but not in the distant future it will be greatly to China's advantage to take a loss on their remaining dollar in reserves and kill the US and EU demand for oil and other natural resources China needs. I.e. take a one time loss for many years of much lower cost of China's imports of energy and raw materials. For other examples of how China is winning the struggle for world control: US paid in blood and treasure in the Iraq war and China is getting the spoils long term contracts on the most proven fields. Same is true in Nigeria. Closer to home, Venezuela just signed new deal with China for long term supplies of oil. The US military cannot do much to make oil flow into ships bound for the US, even if it wanted too as it is not possible to guard all the pipe lines etc. - We learned that in Iraq - the production is still not up to the pre-invasion level.
What contracts China gets won't matter, when oil prices go up they will still have to pay higher and higher prices, unless and there is no fucking way, they have set prices contracts extended for decades! Peak Oil will affect everyone. As for the nations that will suffer the most that obvious as always: the poorest ones. The first nations to loss out on oil will be the lowest bidders, one might say that because many of these people had nothing to being with they can't suffer to much more, but keep in mind what economy they have is all that separates a country like Ethiopia from Somalia, once you take away what little there is there will be blood! As for the poor countries that have proven viable oil reserves they fortunes will not be sunshine as oil prices will not simply rise to gloriously profitable rate but will osculate wildly making for a very unstable income, the massive public income one day will turn into massive debt the next! Country like the USA, despite its incredibly deep addiction to oil, its totally car depended suburban society, will not be the worse off, US still has massive resources in technology and infrastructure to make a conversion possible, if very painful, Certainly the EU and Japan are better off, but in the scale of things the US is not by the long shot the ones the will suffer the most, I see africa and india in a world of pain, china need economic growth in order to keep it 'ever more aware of government corruption and abuse' population appeased, a global depression could put them in much more hurt then the USA.
I've heard this before wasn't oil was going to run out in 2000, If there was a problem why wouldn't the government do more to push hydrogen fuel cell cars on the road, to safe guard remaining oil for more important things than cars like Tanks, Helicopters and NASA.
1. Exact times for any predictions even ones base on sound science as in this case are notoriously wrong, but if you do want to know they were right about oil peaking in 2008, thanks to a global depre/eeer "recession" demand drop and met with supply. 2. Peak oil does not take into account "unconventional" oil reserves, which if brought to capacity could potentially double world oil supply, unfortunately unconventional "oil" cost far more to mine and will reliance on them will be the end of cheap oil. 3.Hydrogen is a diry joke, a pipe dream fed to the masses to get them to invest in an energy economy that can't be implemented competitively against oil even when cheap oil is all depleted, this is why oil companies and fuck wads like Bush push hydrogen, its a great distraction! Hydrogen is inefficient to make cleanly, is hard to store densely, uses expensive fuel cells which mind you may be more efficient then combustion engines but are still grossly inefficient compared to batteries. Mean while battery technology could be implemented far faster and more efficiently with less infrastructure demand. Batteries for light vehicles and biomass/biofuels for all the rest is the most viable clean alternative energy economy possible. The US military is not investing hundreds million in coal gasification to oil and bio-fuels, the jet industry have taken particular interest in algae oil to make a drop in replacement for jet fuel. And electric cars and hybrids are already on the market.
You are not well informed. For example Brazil (actually PetroBras) has received about a year ago a Chinese loan of 10 billion dollars which is to be repaid with (as I recall) 200,000 barrels/ day of oil for a fixed period of years, which I forget, but I have posted all the details earlier. As I recall, Brazil was effectively selling oil at about $45/ barrel, but when the "time value of money" is considered (got money already and delivers oil only in the future) the price was near market, but that calculation depends upon the interest rate one assumes. With in the last month China signed a quite similar deal with Venezuela (in addition to many earlier deals to help develop its shale oil reserves for payment in oil). China has deals of a similar nature with Russia for natural gas. The large diameter pipeline is already functional to the Chinese border, but China is about a year behind schedule on the internal Chinese part - had more pressing needs of the steel pipe. (Completed a few months ago the world's longest large diameter gas pipeline into the mid East. Interestingly, it takes months to fill it and only in the western part is the pressure high enough to be used now, but that use is delaying gas availability in China's coastal cities.) Most, if not all, of China's African deals are also upfront full payments or barter deals - For example, China is building new railroads in the Congo in exchange for set deliveries of copper as I recall. More than half of all the hydro electric or flood control dams currently being built outside of China are being built by China in Africa as are many ports, new mines etc. in exchange for minerals and energy. It is very rare, if ever, that China promises to pay in the future with market adjusted prices as you are falsely assuming. That would not serve China's other main purpose, which is to spend dollars in its reserves for its future needs ASAP while the dollars still have value. Today, the Folio de Sao Paulo front page announces that China's "State Grid" electric company is paying 3 billion dollars for some electric power facilities in Brazil that were controlled by Spain's Cobra, Elecnor Isoux,* but there are certain regulatory approvals yet to be obtained. China is also trying to buy large farms in Brazil for billions to assure future food supplies and has done so in Africa. Again: China pays up front whenever it can for its future needs. You simply are making false assumptions. ---------------- * In a small way what I said in prior post about it being to China's economic advantage soon to send US and EU into deep depression (dumping remaining dollars of reserves at a loss) if not already in depression due to damage GWB did so China gets lower cost imports is already becoming true. Spain needs 3 billion in cash now. China is getting a good deal.
Billy T, Your not well capable of reading. I never said china "promises pay in the future with market adjusted prices" its not a matter or china promising anything, show me the oil exporters promising to pay with fix prices and I'll believe you. Also "China pays up front whenever it can for its future needs." does not run counter to my argument, in fact it reinforces it.
