When people talk or write about Peak Oil, they're usually discussing peak oil production. There is another form of peak oil that goes along with it, peak oil consumption. Usually peak production forces peak consumption from lack of supply, but sometimes its the higher prices or the development of a better alternative that changes consumption pattersns. For example, coal got replaced by oil beginning about 100 years ago, which likely slowed consumption and delayed peak production by decades. A temporary peak in consumption even happened with oil. In The End of Suburbia, which I consider to be the definitive Peak Oil movie, Richard Heinberg admits that the price shocks of the 1970s oil crises destroyed demand and delayed global peak by at least a decade. What if that's happening again?
Brad Plumer of The Washington Post's Wonkblog wrote about the subject last week in Washington Post: Is peak oil demand just around the corner?
For years, there’s been lots of debate over “peak oil” — the notion that, at some point in the near future, the rate of global oil production will bump up against a hard ceiling. This is generally considered a gloomy prospect.Follow over the jump for more about peak consumption and its signs.
But another, related concept has started to bubble up in energy discussions lately. It’s the notion of peak oil demand.
This is the idea that the world’s appetite for oil may not be bottomless after all. Thanks to a combination of price increases, improvements in vehicle efficiency, as well as the advent of alternative fuels and electric cars, we may reach a point in the coming decades where the world’s demand for oil actually starts declining. And if that happens before peak oil production hits, well, that would come as a relief.
