An important report has just come out of the International Energy Agency. The peak of oil production (commonly known as peak oil) has been reached, and annual oil production will be dropping by 6.4% - 9.1% a year from now on.

If you're dependent on a car, start getting ready to not being able to use it as much.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=arn1g3qUqKAI&refer=energy

I dumped my car a year and a half ago.

I guess I'm a psychic genius and brilliant with money.

It all looks like that but in a years time I bet not much difference will be noticed at all and no-one will be dumping cars.

The thing is that during the 150$ per barrel period most oil companies said that they would use the extra money for investments in production of oil.

Unfortunately for us, most big companies got greedy, and instead of actually modifying their technology, they started buying out their own stock market shares for all that money, just to get more money in the future.

Now, when the oil prices dropped like a rock, the whole procedure bit them in the ass, but unfortunately, it will bite us as well.

That period was so short that I doubt it could have much impact. Besides, even if they had started a lot of new projects they would most likely be stopping them now that the recession is reducing oil demand.

The big problem is that when the economy starts getting better there will be lack of supply, which may well prevent the economy from healing. This is why governments have to force investment in renewables and public transportation even though energy is cheap right now.

Whether I trust that this will happen is another question entirely... Some countries will cope better, some will cope worse. All will suffer because a lot of our crucial activities are still dependant on oil (farming for example).

Tell that to all the folks who already had to dump their cars (either due to high fuel prices, because they lost their jobs or both).

Good times to be a biker!

I was looking to get a drivers license but I think i'll just stick to public transport for now.

@Million Yeah I take the DC metro. www.wmata.com

I got a driving license 7 years ago, used to drive when I was in Portugal (though not every day).

Now I'm in Sweden and I just use public transportation. I'm not sure I'll get a car, even if I do it won't be for commuting. It's probably cheaper to just rent a car when I really need one (for example for moving to another house or some short vacation).