The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism and Economic Collapse

This book is a continuation of the theme of Heinberg's earlier books on peak oil - "The Party's Over", and "Powerdown". A big difference however, is the air of optimism the book has compared to the doomsday tone of the previous two. Not that we are not facing serious times and soon (he documents very well how petroleum dominates all of modern society), this book presents a plan to deal with it beyond the unrealistic rescue scenarios such as oil sands, wind-for-all, and the notion that Sun can supply 5,000 times the energy we need, etc. The idea that nations will control and also decrease their use of oil through international agreements seems at first blush preposterous. However, in chapter 3 he shows how a depletion protocol can mesh with a Kyoto -type protocol for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. The result is as two-fer; adjusting to decreasing supplies of petroleum while at the same time decreasing emissions through an international treaty. The fact that the U.S. has not agreed to Kyoto does not mean it is dead in the water; well over 100 nations are on board. Coordination of a depletion treaty with an emissions treaty makes solid sense and is I hope, inevitable.

Of the many books now available that review peak oil, Richard Heinberg's "The Oil Depletion Protocol" is unique in that it outlines a practical solution to survival the upcoming energy crunch. After reading a few books about the upcoming energy collapse, read this book to energize yourself with hopeful solutions. We should all read this book, think deeply, and get to work soon.

Oil is the primary fuel of the world - and thus, vulnerable to terrorist efforts. THE OIL DEPLETION PROTOCOL: A PLAN TO AVERT OIL WARS, TERRORISM AND ECONOMIC COLLAPSE does more than the usual charting of a known problem: it offers up solutions, reviewing data on peak oil production and describing an accord where nations would voluntarily reduce their production and imparts by an agreed-upon formula to enable energy transition planning and ultimately more stable prices. A unique concept that deserves thought and which is well planned, here! Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

I am amazed and bemused that, after all this time and wanton bloodshed in Iraq, the question of Peak Oil has not come front and center to legislative notice and public policy debate. What is the real reason for the prolonged occupation of Iraq? What has been accomplished, at unparalleled expense and terrible loss of life, over these past six years? Basically, two phenomena: 1) The establishment of a circuit of American military bases and military presence surrounding the major oil reserves in Saudi Arabia and Iraq (the vastly greater part of the world's remaing easily accessible oil reserves). 2) The complete shutdown of Iraq's oil production. Why?? When we think about political motives, certainly Bush would have found himself a much more popular figure without the Iraq war. From another perspective - the so-called war on terrorism salvaged a failing Presidency - but, then again, there is the plethora of questions surrounding the stated plans of PNAC before Bush's ascendency to the Presidency under highly questionable conditions, and then the ever thining government explanation for what appear to be more rightly perceived as the demolitions and mass-murders of 9/11 - the exposed lies re: Sadaam's missing WMD's, and on and on ... But Why?? Why would this multi-millionaire's son and wealthy cohorts risk the charges of treason which now regularly echo in our streets? Why commit to this policy of unending bloodletting in Iraq, to which our government policy has, unabated (12 years of sanctions and no-fly zones since 1991, for a total of 15 years straight?? For regime change??? To bring democracy to the Middle-East? To lower the price of oil? When I think that 9/11 may actually be an inside job in the face of stunning and plentiful evidence - not the least of which is Bush's stalling an investigation for over 400 days. . . THERE MUST BE AN EXPLANATION. Something must be really scaring our nation's leaders, driving them to desperate measures - and I believe, with Heinberg, that SOMETHING is PEAK OIL. The current policy in the corporate owned media has been to dismiss Peak Oil as a myth, or a 'flawed' theory. You can verify this by simply entering "peak oil" in on Google. Otherwise, no one in power in the US is talking about it, though hardly is such a threat, I would say the main threat, to national security off the table. After all, how is your typical politician going to inform you that with the radically increased oil consumption in China - oil supplies could begin to effectively diminish as early as 2010 and maybe disappear by 2020? How could our leaders publicly announce such a bewildering situation without a viable solution? Their solution (a temporary fix at best) seems to be the occupation of Iraq - really the first resource war - with all attendant costs. Apparently, the oil depletion crisis is scary enough to warrant the billions in debt merely to keep Iraqi oil safe in the ground, on reserve for when WE NEED it, behi