End of the fossil fuel era?

By Alvin Powell

A car about to run out of gas can be traveling 70 mph until the moment the tank runs dry. Good thing cars have fuel gauges.

While the world economy is humming right along, the fuel gauge for oil production is broken and at least one oil industry expert believes we may be in for a rude shock.
Matthew Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Co. International and author of "Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy," used the fuel-gauge analogy to illustrate his concerns about world energy supplies during a Feb. 8 talk in the Science Center.

Simmons said the energy industry is so large that its problems can affect all aspects of modern life. Overall, it is an $8 trillion to $9 trillion business, four to five times larger than the next-largest. The 20th century's explosion in technology and health care, as well as new ways of making war, were largely due to advances made possible by abundant, cheap energy, he said.

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