peak production
this is an interesting graph. the full discussion of peak oil by an astrophysicist(!) is
here. the graph shows the price of oil and the rate at which oil is produced. over time the line kinda wanders around the graph. when the price is low, say below $40/bbl, there's a somewhat linear relationship with production. which is what you'd expect from basic economic supply and demand theory. ie demand (and price) goes up, we produce more to satisfy that demand. but a funny thing happens when production gets to around 85 million barrels per day. in economics speak, the price become inelastic. ie prices range from $50/bbl to $150/bbl and production barely budges. okay, so what does that mean? simply put, the world cannot produce more than about 85 million barrels of oil per day. the oil just isn't there. supply is not infinite. and we've hit the ceiling. we can't just stick another straw in the earth and suck harder. drill baby drill, is a losing policy. because it just plain won't work.