Portland Leads the Way in Preparing for Peak Oil

Portland is preparing for a future when oil wells have dried out.

Earlier this month, Portland, Oregon, became the first city in the United States to publish an official strategy for coping with a future in which oil is no longer economical. The city’s new 85-page report on “peak oil” explores three scenarios for the decline of the oil age, ranging from the best case (a slow decline of oil to which the economy adjusts) to the worst (leading to social disintegration). It recommends cutting Portland’s oil and natural gas use by half over the next 25 years and lays out plans for adapting to economic and social hardships that might result as the world’s supply of cheap oil drains away.

The report notes that regardless of when the peak in oil production actually occurs, the changes will be so immense that immediate action is necessary. The study’s taskforce divided the issue into four main topics: land use and transportation, food and agriculture, economic change, and public services. To reduce Portland’s oil and gas use by 50 percent, they advise better land use, mass transit, walkable communities, highly efficient vehicles, and education, among other solutions. They emphasize joint planning and coordination with other levels of government to prepare for potential problems.

In a 2006 special issue on peak oil in World Watch magazine, Worldwatch Institute president Christopher Flavin notes that energy efficiency and renewable energy have vast potential to address the decline in oil supplies. “The same technological revolution that created the Internet and so many other 21st century wonders can be used to efficiently harness the world’s vast supplies of wind, biomass, and other forms of solar energy—which are 6,000 times greater on an annual basis than the fossil resources we now rely on.”

This story was produced by Eye on Earth, a joint project of the Worldwatch Institute and the blue moon fund. View the complete archive of Eye on Earth stories, or contact Staff Writer Alana Herro at aherro [AT] worldwatch [DOT] org with your questions, comments, and story ideas.