Peak Oil at West Point(they get it)

[4dsc]

This post is a slightly annotated summary of a poster presentation (Army Energy Strategy for the End of Cheap Oil) at the 25th Army Science Conference, Orlando, Florida, November 27-30, 2006, by three scholars of the US Military Academy at West Point.

The authors are Colonel Kip P. Nygren, head of Department of Civil & Mechanical Engineering, Lit. Colonel Darrell D. Massie, assoc. professor in the same department, and Paul J. Kern, a retired four star general. Note that Kern was commanding general of US Army Material Command.

“The era of cheap, available oil is coming rapidly to an end,” argue the authors. “We are either at or very near the era when the demand for oil will outstrip the ability of the earth to supply the needs of the global society,” driving the price of liquid fuels to rise steeply over the next decade.

“Without ready alternatives to replace ever more costly and scarce oil, we are entering an age of uncertainty and insecurity unlike any other that could include economic stagnation or even reversal.”

http://karbuz.blogspot.com/2006/11/peak-oil-at-west-point.html

[pstans]

1. Thanks for posting this

I have been following Peak Oil for over 5 years and this was very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[Buzz Clik]

2. pdf of paper from the authors

http://www.asc2006.com/posters/HP-18.pdf

[bigbrother05]

3. k&r

The major point is that a former AMC (Army Material Command) commander has signed on to this analysis. AMC manages all the Army's rolling stock (tanks to trucks to hummers) as well as pretty much everything else that the troops take to war.

It's just like us, you take a look at what your budget is going to be down the road and try to decide what your options will be for getting to work and delivering your products. The Army is moving as fast as it can to using simulators (they buy the best "video" games you could ever imagine) to avoid putting the GIs in vehicles out on remote training locations. The savings in time, money, wear & tear on equipment, and risk to life is huge if you can do realistic training at home base with a simulation. Gone are the days when thousands of Soldiers were flown with their equipment from the states to Germany for a month of field exercises.

[brokensymmetry]

4. K+R n/t

.

[rman]

5. kick for the denialists

[lostnotforgotten]

6. www.theoildrum.com

Best web site for peak oil discussions on the planet.

[4dsc]

9. Or is it just a fetish

as someone once called it??

Damn straight the oildrum.com webiste is kicking ass and taking names later.. Lick CERA's ass today!!

[kestrel91316]

7. I eagerly await the day when we will be forced, due to economics

and the realities of PO, to beat every last one of our swords into plowshares. War is too expensive for rational people to wage. We need to invest out time, money, and energy (while we have it) into developing alternatives and conservation.

[ArbustoBuster]

8. We'll just invent greener weapons systems, or else do without on the homefront

An end to cheap oil wouldn't make war too expensive; it would make wars more vicious.

[Javaman]

10. The military knows damn well we are in deep shit.

otherwise they wouldn't be in such a rush to develop alternative jet fuel. Those thing suck it up.

The army is developing a hybrid hummer.

The world we live in, if you want to know what the new tech is going to be, look to the military, it's the one advantage to having a military industrial complex.

And they have known for a very long time.