What does “peak oil” mean?
Short Answer: It is the point at which easily (and cheaply) extractable oil is no longer available. More Complete Answer: “Peak Oil” is the most common term for the end of cheap and easily available oil resources. The “peak” refers to a model created by M King Hubbert. A discussion of Hubbert’s Peak can be found at Wikipedia – Hubbert’s Peak. Briefly, the “peak” is the point at which any given oil well, field, or global oil supply, reaches the production peak. After that point, the remaining oil becomes increasingly costly to extract and refine. Peak oil as a term generally refers to the global availability of oil. Energy Bulletin’s Peak Oil Primer has a nice discussion of the basics of peak oil.
