Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

GILBERT, Richard, and Anthony Perl. Transport Revolutions: Moving People and
Freight Without Oil. London: Earthscan, 2008. Asserts that, in the future, land
transportation will shift toward movement by grid‐connected electric vehicles, while air
travel and air freight will go into severe decline.
GOODSTEIN, David. Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil. W.W. Norton, 2005. Goodstein
outlines the scientific principles of the inevitable fossil fuel shortage and points to the
promise afforded by switching to other sources of energy.
GREER, John Michael. The Long Descent: a User's Guide to the End of the Industrial
Age. New Society Publishers, 2008. Greer contends that peak oil will lead to the “catabolic
collapse” of industrial civilization – not an immediate collapse, but a long, slow one lasting
many decades, with periods of relative equilibrium alternating with periods of decline
HEINBERG, Richard. Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis. New Society
Publishers, 2009. Heinberg notes that “Only recently have a few analysts attempted
peaking forecasts for world coal, and those forecasts show a likely peak for world coal
production before mid‐century, possibly as soon as 2025.” He also highlights the
dependency of coal as an energy source on petroleum‐based transportation, suggesting
that “Peak Oil May hasten Peak Coal.”
HEINBERG, Richard, and C.J. Campbell. The Oil Depletion Protocol. New Society
Publishers, 2006. Describes a possible international agreement, the “oil depletion
protocol” (originally proposed by Campbell), whereby nations would voluntarily reduce
their oil production and oil imports. The purpose of the protocol is to reduce international
rivalry over oil supplies and prevent possible resource wars. The book provides a review
of the history and literature of peak oil and explains the protocol and its implications for
government and industry. It also explains how municipalities and citizens can become
involved.
HEINBERG, Richard. The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies.
New Society Publishers, 2005. A useful , eye‐opening introduction to the subject of peak
oil. Heinberg was a member of the Oakland peak oil task force whose report is cited above.
HEINBERG, Richard. Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post­Carbon World. New
Society Publishers, 2004. In this sequel to The Party’s Over, Heinberg provides and update
and reviews four primary ways that society can approach energy supply issues. He
concludes that the prudent way to handle the energy shortage is to “power down” through
intelligent, informed, cooperative means while simultaneously working to build community
solidarity and to preserve knowledge, artifacts, and tools.
HOPKINS, Rob. The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience.
Green, 2008. Declaring that “peak oil and climate change mean that small is inevitable,”
Hopkins argues for economic relocalization, with individual communities to prepare
“energy descent action plans” for the transition to a low‐energy future.
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