U44A:
Is Peak Oil Dead and What Does It Mean for Climate Change?

Note: Abstract submissions to Union sessions are by invitation only.


Session ID#: 7260

Session Description:
In recent years, US oil and natural gas production have exploded due to fracking (hydraulic fracturing coupled with horizontal drilling in shale source rocks), leading to claims that “peak oil is dead.” While the so-called “shale revolution” is regarded in the fossil fuel community as a great achievement, many climate scientists and policymakers think that fracking and other unconventional fossil fuel production will cause the world to exceed even the most extreme IPCC greenhouse-gas emission scenarios.

This session seeks to bring together fossil fuel experts and climate experts for a daring exploration of the new landscape created by fracking and other unconventional methods of fossil fuel recovery. Contributions are sought on (1) what unconventional sources mean for the theory of peak oil; (2) what an explosion of new fossil fuel emissions might mean for global climate change; and (3) what geological, economic, or policy forces might limit fossil fuel production.

Primary Convener:  Asher Miller, Post Carbon Institute, Santa Rosa, CA, United States
Conveners:  Warren J Wiscombe, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, David Fridley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States and James E Hansen, Columbia University of New York, Palisades, NY, United States
Chairs:  Asher Miller, Organization Not Listed, Washington, DC, United States and Warren J Wiscombe, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
OSPA Liaison:  Asher Miller, Organization Not Listed, Washington, DC, United States
Index Terms:

1626 Global climate models [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1699 General or miscellaneous [GLOBAL CHANGE]
4930 Greenhouse gases [PALEOCEANOGRAPHY]
6620 Science policy [PUBLIC ISSUES]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Oil Production, The Price Crash and Uncertainty in Climate Change (Invited) (62691)
James W Murray, University of Washington Seattle Campus, School of Oceanography, Seattle, WA, United States
Implications of Abundant Gas and Oil for Climate Forcing (Invited) (67673)
James Edmonds, Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, College Park, WA, United States
Fracking in the face of global climate change (Invited) (68094)
Catherine Gautier and Peter Peterson, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
Unconventional Liquids, Peak Oil and Climate Change (Invited) (72601)
John David Hughes, Global Sustainability Research Inc., Calgary, AB, Canada
What Geological, Economic, or Policy Forces Might Limit Fossil Fuel Production? (Invited) (81553)
Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute, Santa Rosa, CA, United States

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