How Can Long Island Prepare for the Peak Oil Energy Shock?

The international debate on when worldwide oil production will "peak" is raging. Many experts believe that oil production will reach its maximum level between now and the year 2010. Intense competition over the remaining oil supplies will lead to permanently high gasoline prices, home heating oil prices, and general transportation costs. Not long after oil production peaks, worldwide production of natural gas will also peak. The heating and electricity costs associated with natural gas will increase.

Global oil discovery peaked in the late 1960s. Since the mid-1980s, oil companies have been finding less oil than is being consumed. Of the 65 largest oil-producing countries in the world, as many as 54 have passed their peak of production and are now in decline. North Sea oil fields, for example, reached their peak in 2001.

Our industrial societies and financial systems were built on the assumption of continual growth – growth based on ever more readily available cheap fossil fuels. Oil in particular is the most convenient and multi-purposed of these fossil fuels. Oil currently accounts for about 43 percent of the world's total fuel consumption and 95 percent of global energy used for transportation.

Of course, oil that is the least expensive to produce is brought to the surface first. Therefore, oil that remains in the ground becomes progressively more expensive to produce. The cost becomes unbearable long before the oil actually "runs out."

The longer we as a community and a nation wait to react, the fewer options we have and the more expensive our choices will be. And we will have wasted precious time and resources to put policies in place.

This conference brings together top experts on future alternatives and strategies for coping with the coming energy shock and the consequences of global climate change. We are looking to the future with the hope that using knowledge, technology and cutting-edge ingenuity will keep the region vibrant, attractive and sustainable. You are invited to be part of the dialogue and the solution.

Climate Change Warning Signs

• Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have increased 34 percent since preindustrial times.
• Atmospheric levels of methane have risen 145 percent in the past 100 years.
• At present melting rates, all glaciers in Glacier National Park could disappear by 2030.
• Arctic sea ice has shrunk by 250 million acres— an area the size of California, Maryland, and Texas combined.
• Eleven of the 12 hottest years on record have occurred in the last 12 years.
• In 2003, a heat wave in Europe claimed an estimated 35,000 lives.The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season had 28 named storms, including 4 Category 5 hurricanes.

“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level.”

– Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Preparing for Climate Change

Are you prepared for global climate change?

• What affects have been observed and predicted?
• Which strategies will achieve significant mitigation?
• How can we achieve long-term sustainability?
  

Be Part of the Dialog

The time to act is now. Join NYIT’s Center for Energy, Environment, and Economics as it explores this emerging crisis. Listen to leading experts as they discuss solutions and plans for achieving sustainability. And share your insights with industry peers.