Post-Peak Oil: Difference between revisions
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* ''[[Mad Max]]'' (or at least ''Mad Max 2'') is a definite [[Trope Codifier]] for this, and a lot of dystopias where oil is valuable as gold are explicit references to the film. It is the oil shortages that began the nuclear war that resulted in the [[After the End]] setting.
* ''[[Last Chase]]'' (1981)
* The story of ''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.
== [[Literature]] ==
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** ''[[Ship Breaker]]'' by the same author, which is set in the same universe. Old oil tankers are broken for scrap, and whatever pockets of oil they still contain are priceless finds that can make a man's fortune.
* ''[[Julian Comstock]]'' by Robert Charles Wilson is set in a 22nd-century America where the oil has run out; the resulting society ends up feeling like a cross between 19th-century America and 4th-century Rome.
** This one is a victim of [[Science Marches On]], as the provable natural gas reserves in the continental United States would have been tapped long before anything like this scenario occurs (to say nothing of the biodiesel project sponsored by the Department of Defense, with the goal of making the US military completely independent of foreign oil
* In ''[[Soylent Green|Make Room! Make Room!]]'' by Harry Harrison, 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).
* The future part of ''[[Timescape]]'' by [[Gregory Benford]] takes place in a gloomy England after Peak Oil.
* ''[[Fugue for a Darkening Island]]'' by Christopher Priest takes place in an England where the civilization is collapsing after the oil has run out.
* The backstory of ''[[The Inverted World]]'' by Christopher Priest has the oil running out as a crucial plot point.
* In ''[[Last and First Men]]'' by Olaf Stapledon the end of the current civilization is caused by oil running out centuries from now. This is very early in the story, making almost all of the millions of years of human history described in the book technically post-Peak Oil.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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== 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. The [[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,<ref>Most commercial fertilizers are made using petroleum.</ref>
** 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 [[World War Two]] 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.
* Technically, ways to produce liquid fuels from gas or coal do exist and resulting product is costly, but within reasonable limits. And there is really much coal on Earth. And even after coal exhaustion, there are ways to produce liquid fuels from biomass, that are in development even now, so-called biodiesel.
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[[Category:Cynicism Tropes]]
[[Category:Post-Peak Oil]]
[[Category:Apocalyptic Index]]
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