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Peaking of World Oil Production

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Peak Oil, Economic Growth, and Wildlife Conservation

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Abstract

Nonrenewable and renewable energy sources make up the two major energy categories of interest to our industrial civilization. Nonrenewable energy includes different fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) that were formed over millions of years, as well as nuclear . Once used, they are no longer available in any time period of interest to humans. Renewable energy , on the other hand, is so-called free energy, such as the sun (solar), wind, biomass , by-products of fermentation or decomposing organic matter (alcohol, biodiesel, methane) , geothermal, etc., that only has to be harnessed, used, or converted to another form, for example, electricity. Any evaluation of fossil-fuel energy and proposed alternatives requires knowledge of the interrelations between heat, work, and internal energy of a system, in other words, the study of thermodynamics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, 301 Braddock Road, 21532, Frostburg, MD, USA

    J. Edward Gates

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  1. J. Edward Gates
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Correspondence to J. Edward Gates .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland Center for Enviro Appalachian Laboratory, Frostburg, Maryland, USA

    J. Edward Gates

  2. University of Maryland Center for Enviro Appalachian Laboratory, Frostburg, Maryland, USA

    David L. Trauger

  3. Center for the Advancement of the Steady, Arlington, Virginia, USA

    Brian Czech

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Gates, J. (2014). Peaking of World Oil Production. In: Gates, J., Trauger, D., Czech, B. (eds) Peak Oil, Economic Growth, and Wildlife Conservation. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1954-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1954-3_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1953-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1954-3

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