Published on 12 May 2008 by ASPO-USA. Archived on 12 May 2008.
Peak oil: “It’s the flows, stupid!”
by Steve Andrews and Randy Udall
Verbal shots from legendary political consultant James Carville land with the shock of a hand grenade. If the always-blunt and ever-controversial Carville were to grasp our oil dilemma and begin a peak oil education campaign, his war-room slogan would probably paraphrase his winning axiom from the 1992 Clinton campaign, using “It’s the Flows, Stupid!”
Peak oil is about peak flow. It’s that simple, despite all those lame statements (some from people who ought to know better) that “we aren’t running out.” That’s right, we aren't, but who said we were!
Peak oil describes the maximum flow rate of oil from a well, an off-shore platform, a field, a basin, or a geographic area—state, nation, continent, and eventually the world. Webster’s defines “peak” as “the highest or most important point.” This summer we’ll watch Olympians in Beijing straining for peak performance—for their best. Peak doesn’t mean the end or the bottom or the dregs. It’s golfer Arnold Palmer or soccer player Mia Hamm at their most impressive zenith some years back. It’s Tiger Woods winning the 1997 Masters by 12 strokes, embarrassing the best players in the world. In most areas of human life, peak is a high point, a cause for celebration.
http://energybulletin.net/44078.html------------------------------------------------------
Here is a good article, just out today, clarifying one aspect of the problem, and one that is consistently gotten wrong in the media and simple arguments: that is, its not about how much there is left, but about what rate of production can be maintained.