Oil & Peak Oil Infographic

September 17th, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

I received this great infographic on Monday when I was in London for a CNBC/Harvard Business Review “Energy Opportunities” interview. So, after catching up on things over the past few days, I’m just now getting it up. It is really a great one, laying out where oil comes from, who’s using it, what we’re using it for, and the ever-important topic of… peak oil. Check it out (CLICK TO ENLARGE):

Update/note: one of our great readers and commenters pointed out in the comments below that the infographic seems to downplay the point that we need to get moving fast on clean energy solutions, not try to find oil in harder to reach places, and it ignores global warming altogether. Thought his points were worth highlighting:

Another good infographic but does anyone else see the elephant in the room? We are way past the door of diminishing returns and this chart says “don’t worry, be happy” the world is OK. Lets totally discount “global warming”… and lets party hardy.

I submit that the threat that we all face is REAL and very DANGEROUS and that we MUST get real in our GOAL of a non fossil fuel based energy generating system.

We need to save all those concentrated carbon atoms for more useful and intelligent use (than burning) for the future.

More in the comments below.

Infographic by Carsort

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Tags: infographic, Infographics, oil infographic, peak oil, peak oil infographic, quickies

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

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Anonymous

That research is being conducted. Billions of dollars are being spent on synthetic fuel and new ways to make nuclear safe and affordable. At this point the research has not shown us the results we need in order to implement these approaches.

We have other technologies which work, which we are now using, that will solve our diminishing oil problems. Best, IMO, to get cracking with installing what we know works and then if someone comes up with a better idea later we can switch over.
Ed Kerr

Zach:
Another good infographic but does anyone else see the elephant in the room? We are way past the door of diminishing returns and this chart says “don’t worry, be happy” the world is OK. Lets totally discount “global warming” (True a subject of some controversy) and lets party hardy.

I submit that the threat that we all face is REAL and very DANGEROUS and that we MUST get real in our GOAL of a non fossil fuel based energy generating system.

We need to save all those concentrated carbon atoms for more useful and intelligent use (than burning) for the future.

Oh, I forgot. The world will end soon or maybe the rapture is upon us and why worry. Who cares if the grand-kids die too………

Wake up folks
Ed
PS. when we pollute the water can we drink that expensive oil?
- Anonymous
  
  Hmm, i have to look again. I didn’t really get the impression we should ‘party hard’ and not worry. Just got the message, ‘we can transition to a clean energy economy ‘ (though, a little weakly presented). The global warming bit would be nice to include (should have been included, in my opinion) — I think it still needs as much coverage as it deserves (A LOT) — but seems that most still separate peak oil & GW in discussions. And I guess Peak Oil can resonate with some people who still don’t understand that GW is real and happening NOW (and that we are causing it by burning oil and coal, primarily).
  - Ed Kerr
    
    The graphic, to me seems to say “yes, the easy oil is gone but we’ve had energy crisis’ before and with more aggressive technologies we can recover all the hard oil deep under the ground and oceans” Regardless, we all here know that no energy strategy that depends on coal or oil is in any way a real solution to peak oil. Sure, we are going to be OK for a short while (though likely much poorer) but making a serious transition to sustainable energy is the only thing that will allow us to continue developing as a species. It will create jobs and a cleaner environment.
    GW is, for me, NOT a subject that is open to debate. I simply noted that it is a hotly contested issue in the political arena today. Proof only that one need not have a brain to run for office.
    Realizing that all of the planets in our solar system are warming at this time leads me to realize that the problem might in some ways be “out of our hands”. But, the fact that we are, at the least, exacerbating any problem of a sun that does not necessarily have a steady output, is somewhat disconcerting.
    I hope that you didn’t perceive my post as a criticism of your work. You are one of the young people that I find inspiring. Most younger people seem to “not get it” and have almost no appreciation of long term problems. The word “extrapolation” is on that they apparently missed in high school. So, keep up the good work and I’ll be working with you.
    Ed
    - Anonymous
      
      Maybe you’re right on the first part.. i was reading it a different way, but maybe most would read it in this less helpful way.
      
      On the rest, totally agree.
      
      And wasn’t taking it as a criticism
      
      Thanks for chiming in with the extra points. I’ll add a note with some of your comments at the top of the piece so they’re more prominent.
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Anonymous

OK, the thing that grabs me most here is the statement by Jeroen van de Veer, CEO of Shell, that based on his company’s analysis we hit the ‘cheap oil’ wall in four more years.

At that point we will have used enough easier to extract and refine oil to bring the supplies below demand. That means that more expensive oil will come to the market and the price of all oil will rise. Who is going to sell their “easy” oil if the market is will to pay the price of “hard” oil?

This happens and we are going to see some damaged economies. Enough economic activity will stop to cut demand to roughly the level of “easy” oil. But we would then have to continue to cut demand year after year as the “easy” wells get pumped out.

We better be sure we have ways to cut our oil usage to match the dropping demand. Lots of ways to cut usage, efficiency/conservation and replacement. Raising fleet MPG requirements helps, better public transportation helps, switching to EVs helps. Put them all together in an aggressive program and we could keep another recession from smacking us in the face.

I sure appreciate President Obama’s raising of MPG requirements and his efforts to get us better public transportation (especially high speed rail) as well as efforts to push EVs and battery factories. If we’re smart we’ll keep him in office in 2012 and give him a Congress which will work with him to fix our problems. If we turn our government back over to those who want only to increase the wealth of the already rich we will be screwed.
- Anonymous
  
  Yeah, that was a striking comment.
  
  & yeah, Obama’s been doing great work trying to prepare us for the future on that front.. not every politician would, as we know all too well…