I used to talk alot of the 'Peak Oil' theory a while back and has I predicted back then it's happening now. To be honest it looks to be the more likely natural disaster (if it can be called natural disaster) to destroy civilization by or during 2012.

Is everyone now getting and understanding the issues of 'Peak Oil'? It has nothing to do with running out of Oil but rather supply not able to keep up with demand. This will continue to the point of economical collapse and mass famine because all major Oil fields are now in decline, so demand will always outstrip supply from now on.

Many 'conspiracy theorists' throw the ol' Oil Shales of Alaska or the Antartic (I think it's there) about and how much Oil is there and it's being withheld because of some controlling thing by governments. Well that's pure crap, the Shales aren't and won't be exploited because it's pretty futile to do so. It's estimated the EROEI (Energy Return on Energy Invested) is only somthing like 2 barrels used to get 3 barrels out.

So be prepared for quite a bumpy ride now. The goodtimes are certainly behind us!

Running out of oil is not so bad. It was stupid to get stuck on it to begin with. There has been bit of an effort to convince people that oil is the most workable fuel source. Well, it isn't. There are other sources. Even it dirty or whatever, there are others.

Our options are limited. There is nothing we can do right this minute to solve energy production without allot of waste product to deal with. However the general view seams to be that energy is hard to come by in vast quantities. That is ridiculous. Energy is everywhere and in everything. It is super plentiful. It is super concentrated in everything you have, touch and see. The power your home has is enough to power the entire world for the rest of your life.

The problem is devising a way to use it.

Coal is dirty and troublesome, yet cheap and plentiful. Like it or not coal power plants are going up like weeds on an empty lot.

Nuclear power plants have at times gotten a bad name for the fear that people have of radiation and times they went "Boom". But if handled correctly, they provide the cleanest large scale power production we have. And at the moment, they are rather crude.

Sunlight and solar cells will never work. It may power your phone or even your house for limited hours but it will never work for the big time. To even try and get enough solar cells in action you would need an area the size of North America. Not to mention what to do after that because you only solved the existing need.

Wind can assist the primary power supply but it can never become the primary on a wide enough scale.

Others exist including a wave of "free energy" devices that can power small things on up to house but could never be moved into the big time for a growing world unless zillions are made.

Nowhere in any of this is 2012 an issue unless it is made one. Can an energy shortage cause mass destruction? You bet it can. If you wanted to devise a way to sum up any civilization by level, you could do it by their means and potential for power. Power is the force and drive that any civilization has to make anything happen. Apart form psychological power trips it really is the backbone for any civilization. The more the better.

Cost of energy is no small mater either. A great way to bring a civilization it it's knees is to squeeze the availability of power by increasing it's cost. That alone could render most of it's activities to nothing more then how to get more energy. An activity most life forms never solve and thus never move on to greater things.

If 2012 brings any trouble at all from energy shortages it will be because someone is draining this civilization and killing it. To think of this in the same light as starving a creature to death would work just fine.

There is a shortage of ways to produce power on a scale big enough that we can end this problem. But that does not mean there are no ways it can be done. Like I said, energy and power are everywhere and in everything. All the power you consume in your daily life and for the rest of your life can be found in a cup of coffee if you can rip apart the atomic components and direct them through wires.

Solve one energy crisis and people will grow until it becomes a crisis once again. But getting stuck on energy will get you nowhere. The point is to increase it ahead of the demand for it. And the future for energy production is unlimited.