Alternative Radio on 07/09/08

A lecture by Richard Heinberg on Peak Oil
Richard Heinberg, a leading expert on energy issues, teaches at the
New College of California. He is the author of "The Party's Over:
Oil, War & the Fate of Industrial Societies" and "Power Down: Options
& Actions for a Post-Carbon World."
 
The jump at the pump got you down? While you're paying through the
nose for gas the oil companies are making record profits. In 2005,
ExxonMobil recorded the largest net profit of any corporation in the
history of capitalism: a cool $36 billion. But the gravy train may
not last forever. The concept of peak oil is gaining more currency
and veracity as scientists and geologists amass evidence of the
decline of oil reserves. But the oilgarchy in Washington has the
answer: drill for more oil in environmentally sensitive locations.
The problem with that is that oil is deep underground and hence full
of sediments and will be capital intensive to extract and refine.