History Main / PostPeakOil

* ''{{VideoGame/Fallout}}'': Before the Great War, peak oil was the cause of the Resource Wars that devastated both Europe and the Middle East. Gas prices reached up to $1450.99 per gallon for regular (possibly also reflecting inflation of the dollar). The United States (and possibly China) were only saved by going to a nuclear power based society, while the rest of the world ended up collapsing. The issue was all made moot however, when [[WorldWarIII everyone started to sling nukes at each other]].

* ''{{VideoGame/Fallout}}'': Before the Great War, peak oil was the cause of the Resource Wars that devastated both Europe and the Middle East. Gas prices reached up to $1450.99 per gallon for regular (possibly also reflecting inflation of the dollar). The United States (and possibly China) were only saved by going to an all-nuclear society, while the rest of the world ended up collapsing. The issue was all made moot however, when everyone started to sling nukes at each other.

* In ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom'' by Creator/HarryHarrison, cities effectively become their own totally isolated city states when the oil becomes too rare to use. The only form of travel mentioned are large freighters shipping food to the millions effectively trapped in cities. When the New York police department [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece breaks out a school bus out of a museum]] to use as transport during a massive riot, the fuel they use is so low-quality that it can barely run.

* Shapes the world of ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne''. With gas prices so high, America could no longer afford to be as spread out as it was. Most everyone lives in a major city, or in the slums immediately outside them in what were once trailer parks, where trailers were stacked ontop of one another to fit in more people.also, the lack of easy transportation certainly helped increase the popularity of the VirtualRality OASIS.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* It is somewhat debatable how much damage peak oil would do in real life, and it's generally only the fringe that believes that it would cause civilization to collapse. The {{UsefulNotes/Economics}} page explores this in the Resource Halt section. A brief explanation, however, says that sellers of oil would start withholding stock to prepare for the scarcity, and oil's price, in event of supplies becoming less available, would slowly rise over time, forcing humanity to adapt by either finding a new resource/technology, or increasing energy efficiency and, in some cases, possibly reverting to non-oil-powered technologies (electric trains, organic farming[[note]]Most commercial fertilizers are made using petroleum.[[/note]], et cetera). One of the most commonly cited effects, which is already being seen in some parts of the US now that $4 a gallon gasoline is a reality, is a reversal of the trend towards {{suburb|ia}}an development and a greater focus on city and town centers. Now, a ''sudden'' temporary decrease in availability (such as embargoes, disruption of some sort in production, or transportation routes being cut off), or a war for oil spilling over into a larger conflict, can have nasty consequences, but would most likely only cripple regional areas, rather than the entire planet.
** This is happening now, to some extent. Currently in the US, 30 mpg is considered "good gas mileage" while 40 is considered ''really'' good. Look at articles from the era of the 1974 oil-embargo crisis -- the first time since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII that there had been a gas-price shock -- and be amazed at the references to 15 mpg "compacts" and how a 25 mpg VW Beetle was spoken of in terms now used for a 50 mpg Prius.
*** With modern age engines, tires, and non-congested open roads, 200-plus hp turbocharged cars (VW Golf [=GTI=], Subaru Impreza [=WRX=]) can easily make 30-32 mpg.
** Note that we ''do'' have the technology to produce cars that have MPG ratings that dwarf everything you see on the road today. ''And it's not even especially new technology.'' Take that for what it's worth.
*** The first car able to burn 1 liter of Diesel per 100 km (which translates into a mind-blowing '''''282 mpg''''') while running 75 mph on the highway has already run for 10 years. [[http://www.treehugger.com/cars/volkswagen-to-make-limited-edition-of-1-liter-car-282-mpg-in-2010.html And it's not a hybrid]].
** The reason that alternate energy fuels haven't caught on is either through difficulty to produce them or the big companies [[CorruptCorporateExecutive not wanting it to cut into their car sales profits.]]
*** Also, the prices of gasoline/petrol at the time of writing (late 2013) haven't gotten so expensive that they are simply unaffordable to purchase for everyday citizens. While the prices do suck, they aren't devastating to a greater portion of the population, and the drawbacks of many alternative fuels, and "halfway fuels" like E85 (lower efficiency, price not that much cheaper for what it's worth, and can only be used with certain vehicles that cost far more than what would you would save on fuel), keep them behind gas/petrol. Now, jack up the prices of gas/petrol sky high, then you'll see a stronger push for alternative fuels and vehicles that can utilize them.
* In practice, "oil exhaustion" is relative for a plethora of reasons:
** First, when Hubbert Peak Theory had been devised in 1956, conventional drilling recovery rates were miserable, maybe 5-10 percent of the oil in the ground, while modern post-[[TheSeventies 1970s]] drilling technology recovers 25-35 percent, and the newest and costliest drilling maybe 65 percent. This means an oilfield regarded as exhausted during Marion K. Hubbert's life may be producing just fine nowadays.
** Second, the '''true''' amount of recoverable oil in the ground is just as relative, since exploration is permanently underway, and therefore oil reserves (as opposed to ''resources'' -- total recoverable oil, regardless of economics) have always increased in most oil-producing countries. Venezuela has produced oil ever since 1907, and despite the gigantic exports [[TheNewTens in the modern days]], their oil reserves ''tripled'' from 2010 to 2012 just because a larger amount of extra heavy oil became recoverable.
** Fear of the effect of carbon pollution and plastic trash on the environment creates a secondary pressure to abandon oil beyond simply scarcity. It's quite possible that humanity will need to quit using oil to preserve the ecosystem long before we've run out of usable reserves, and the technology that makes this possible would necessarily drive demand down, meaning hard-to-reach reserves will become unprofitable.
** Recently, the development of shale oil has opened up vast new oilfields, mostly in North America. As a result, the United States has become a net oil ''exporter''.
* Technically, there are ways to produce liquid fuels from gas or coal; the resulting product is costly, but within reasonable limits. And there is really a lot of coal on Earth. And even after coal exhaustion, there are ways to produce liquid fuels from biomass (for example, growing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_biofuel oil-producing algae]]) that are in development even now, so-called biodiesel.
* The 2008 non-fiction book ''$20 per Gallon'' by Chris Steiner explores the potential consequences of gas reaching such a price on the United States, and comes to some surprisingly hopeful conclusions about how it would affect our environment and health. Fewer people driving means cleaner air, healthier local produce as food shipping becomes prohibitively expensive, more exercise as we start walking more, a return of manufacturing jobs to the U.S. as shipping products from around the globe becomes less cost-effective, multi-billion dollar national health care savings as we become healthier.... Keep in mind, however, that Steiner also fully expected us to have reached $8 per gallon by now, and as of 2014, prices are rising much more slowly than he predicted, so take the rest of his predictions with a grain of salt as well.
* Some experts believe Peak Oil has already been passed, sometimes as far back as ''2006''. However, as of 2014, the demand for oil has been sluggish and the [[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-11/iea-cuts-oil-demand-estimates-as-saudi-exports-drop-to-2011-low.html oil demand estimates for the next year are not very optimistic]], while production in the USA and other countries is increasing.
* The rise of UsefulNotes/HighSpeedRail in Europe and Asia has many reasons (in Europe one of them was congested freight railways) but (fear of) peak oil certainly helped kill gas turbine powered trains in favor of BoringButPractical electrical trains.

[[/folder]]

-->-- Loading Screen Text, '''''VideoGame/FrontlinesFuelOfWar'''''

** Fear of the effect of carbon pollution and plastic trash on the environment creates a secondary pressure to abandon oil beyond simply scarcity. It's likely that humanity will need to quit using oil to preserve the ecosystem long before we've run out of usable reserves, and the technology that makes this possible would necessarily drive demand down, meaning hard-to-reach reserves will become unprofitable.

->''After the Oil Wars...''
-->-- Introduction to '''''Battletruck''''' (1982)

** This is happening now, to some extent. Currently in the US, 30 mpg is considered "good gas mileage" while 40 is considered ''really'' good. Look at articles from the era of the 1974 oil-embargo crisis -- the first time since WorldWarTwo that there had been a gas-price shock -- and be amazed at the references to 15 mpg "compacts" and how a 25 mpg VW Beetle was spoken of in terms now used for a 50 mpg Prius.

* The story of ''Film/{{Americathon}}'' is set in a future United States where the gas shortage of the 1970's grew to a point where the automobile has been completely eliminated, except as a possession one can park permanently and live in. One of the acts has a wrestler-type "superhero," played by ''MeatLoaf'', battling "the last car." Everyone cheers when he destroys it, and later, bidding happens on a pint of his blood. Squick!!

* In Creator/HarryHarrison's ''To the Stars'' trilogy, characters occasionally refer to old rulers who squandered the world's resources without thought for the future, resulting in chaos and poverty. The current state of the world has a totalitarian OneWorldOrder with only a few "rogue" states like the democratic Israel remaining. The government imposes a sharply-defined class system, where the poor are contained in their own districts. The resource problem is solved by mining off-world colonies, which are kept on a leash by making them dependent on something only Earth can provide.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', fossil fuels where running out and thus an alternative was needed. This lead to the construction of a massive solar gathering array that circles the entire planet around the equator. However, this was disastrous for the middle east that relied on it's oil for financial stability. With the solar power system up and running, it caused the once precious oil to loose much of it's value. This lead to a collapse of the regions economy and resulted in the brutal Solar Power Wars that would rage on and off for 20 years. And even after the wars have subsided, the region remains extremely unstable with things such as terrorism and the like running rampant.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', oil has been supplanted by orbital solar facilities, with the result that the Middle East is even worse off because no one is interested in them anymore.

* The [[MadeForTVMovie made-for-TV]] DocuDrama ''Oil Storm''. Notable for depicting, as the catalyst for the oil shock, a hurricane hitting [[TheBigEasy New Orleans]] in September 2005... and did we mention that this was made [[HarsherInHindsight just months before Hurricane Katrina]]?[[note]]Of course, the aftermath of Katrina wasn't nearly as bad as what happened in the movie, but still, gas prices hit $6 a gallon in {{Atlanta}}.[[/note]]

* ''CrimeCraft'': Peak oil lead to the society (for lack of a better term) in the game.

* The transition to this and the aftermath is one of the main challenges in most FateOfTheWorld scenarios. Depending upon how well you (literally) play your cards, the transition to a post-oil society can be anywhere from fairly painless to resulting in biosphere collapse and the extinction of humanity. Averted in the Cornucopia scenario, in which fossil fuel reserves are self-replenishing but still cause environmental havoc.

* The song ''Endgame'' by ''Music/RiseAgainst'' has the lyric, "the kerosene's run out," suggesting this is what did the world in.

* The [[MadeForTVMovie made-for-TV]] DocuDrama ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iCDeywiTJM Oil Storm]]''. Notable for depicting, as the catalyst for the oil shock, a hurricane hitting [[TheBigEasy New Orleans]] in September 2005... and did we mention that this was made [[HarsherInHindsight just months before Hurricane Katrina]]?[[note]]Of course, the aftermath of Katrina wasn't nearly as bad as what happened in the movie, but still, gas prices hit $6 a gallon in {{Atlanta}}.[[/note]]

* John Varley's book Slow Apocalypse features a bioweapon that congealed crude oil into an unrecoverable state, although natural gas and coal are still available. It is outright stated that the Los Angeles basin, where the story takes place, is in worse shape than most than most areas due to a series of explosions, earthquakes and a looming permanent drought.
* Shapes the world or ReadyPlayerOne. With gas prices so high, America could no longer afford to be as spread out as it was. Most everyone lives in a major city, or in the slums immediately outside them in what were once trailer parks, where trailers were stacked ontop of one another to fit in more people.also, the lack of easy transportation certainly helped increase the popularity of the VirtualRality OASIS.
* There is a YoungAdult book (I believe it was TheEarTheEyeAndTheArm) where there is no oil, and because of that, plastic plates are treated as a status symbol on par with fine china. Because of this, and the long life of plastic, people have taken to mining for plastic in old garbage dumps.