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German Military Peak Oil Study – Full English Translation


Peak Oil: Security policy implications
of scarce resources
Download PDF (1.77mb)

In previous articles (here and here) we’ve linked to the German language version of a study recently undertaken by the German military on the topic of peak oil, and we also linked to a couple of English summary-only translations as well. Now we can link you to a full English translation!

It’s great that this landmark document is being made more accessible.

It’s quite a fascinating analysis, where you can begin to envision some of the oft-not-discussed implications of peak oil — like how oil can be used by producer states as a weapon to enforce their particular ideologies and/or political and economic agendas on oil-dependent states. Current allegiances between nations may be broken up and reshuffled as politicians prioritise good relationships with oil-rich countries, no matter what those countries might be doing in other areas. Hypocrisy can become the new norm, as authoritarian regimes get empty for-show lectures on human rights on the one hand, whilst being mollified and propped up with oil dollars on the other.


Redefining Prosperity: Energy Descent
and Community Resilience
Download PDF
(13mb)

The document covers everything from globalisation’s dependency on oil, to the meltdown of municipal services and social order when we have to make do without it.

And, of course, it looks at the implications for the German military itself — what the forecast lack of mobility will mean for its ability to respond to threats and also to intervene in humanitarian disasters worldwide.

As well as suggestions to stock-pile fuel reserves, it also looks at possible more systemic solutions, quoting, for example, from the U.S.’s Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force Report — Redefining Prosperity: Energy Descent and Community Resilience — which discusses the necessity of planting edible landscapes on public property, the training and deployment of more urban farmers, and government funding to incubate community food businesses, etc. The latter document is worth a peruse also.

2 Comments

  1. i live in bloomington and am so proud of our energy descent action plan (read: peak oil plan)! it is a great step forward for a small city thinking about the future.

  2. The document shows that the government of Germany is carefully studying the issue of peak oil, and is aware of the potential for serious consequences as oil production declines. The study is reminiscent of the Hirsch Report, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, that warned of the risks posed by peak oil.

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