Just the facts, ma'am...

The Peak Oil & Community Solutions conference inundated us with facts and figures. But these seemed to be the key ones to pay attention to:

1. The world currently consumes 84 million barrels of petroleum PER DAY. Of this the U.S. consumes 21 million barrels -- 25 percent. SOURCE
   
2. One gallon of gas is the equivalent of a physically fit male human pushing an automobile 20 miles. More info on energy equivalents of gas/oil.
   
3. Discovery of new oil fields has declined, which automatically is followed by declines in production. Today, we find only one-third as much new oil as we consume each year. REPEAT: we are going through oil 3x faster than we are finding it!
   
4. While human population more than doubled between 1950 and 2005 (SOURCE), the population of automobiles increased ten-fold! There are 800 million autos worldwide (Automotive Digest claims about 600mil); 235 million of them are in the U.S. As of July 2005, SUV sales were 59% of all U.S. car sales.
   
5. Transportation accounts for about 70% of all U.S. oil consumption. 97% of all U.S. transportation is fueled by oil.
   
6. The average piece of food travels 1500-2500 miles between where it's grown/produced to our dinner tables. SOURCE
   
7. While the U.S. (with the largest consumption of oil) increased its consumption only 2.8% in the last year, China's oil consumption (in 2nd place) increased almost 16% in the last year.
   
8. Three nations dominate oil production, pumping out 1/3 of the world's daily total. Once they peak, the world peaks. Keep your eye on Saudi Arabia. [Gee, I'm sorry.... why? are we in Iraq again??]
   

But truly, this is humbling stuff, folks...