Crude Awakening: Globe and Mail special report on peak oil

American values. Arnold and the Hummer and the American Flag. (Photo from www.treehugger.com)

"Wanton" use of energy enables sprawl. Cities are relatively efficient energy users, although food comes in from all over. With constant increases in the price of oil, will people continue to be able to live farther and farther out?

The Toronto Globe and Mail is running a special series on peak oil "... the economy has witnessed a tectonic shift, the kind not seen in a generation. Oil - $50 (U.S.) a barrel oil - is again transforming our world. To see how, the ROB today begins our most comprehensive look yet at the new energy shock. We don't know if oil prices will hit $100 a barrel or stay below $50 for the summer. No one does....

Two key changes have conspired to make world oil markets much more volatile. There is surging new demand for oil in fast-growing China and India, where the middle class is taking to the road in a big way. And in the Middle East, mega-producer Saudi Arabia appears to have run out of spare production to turn on and off the tap at will. There will be losers -- countries, industries and even workers. Just as powerful locomotives made obsolete almost overnight the vast network of canals built with the blood and sweat of immigrants in the early 1800s, so too will the gas-guzzlers of this century vanish."

You can keep up with this series over the course of the week:

SERIES SCHEDULE

THE GLOBAL CHALLENGE
Oil at the peak, the Canadian landscape, and Saudi Arabia's supply v. China's voracious demand
MONDAY: THE DRILLER'S FRONTIER
New technologies are helping engineers search underground so they can extract the last drops of oil
TUESDAY: THE EXPLORER'S FRONTIER
Is Azerbaijan the next Middle East? After 10 years of fanfare, the Caspian Sea oil balloon has burst
WEDNESDAY: THE TRANSPORTATION FRONTIER
The world is awash with pipeline proposals and money to fund them, but refinery projects are rare
THURSDAY: THE CONSUMER'S FRONTIER
Green cars, clean coal, fuel cells and wind power are all expected to help reduce the world's oil consumption
FRIDAY: THE DREAMER'S FRONTIER
Exploring the world for new fuels, scientists leave few geographic locales - and no locales - untested
SATURDAY: YOUR THOUGHTS, YOUR IDEAS, YOUR MONEY
We present readers' letters on the series - and report how smart money managers are playing their energy hand
FEEDBACK
We welcome your views on the issues raised in the series. Please send your comments to oil@globeandmail.ca
ON THE WEB
You'll be able to follow the series from beginning to end on our website at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/business

For a dystopic view of a future with limited energy, check out these movies.