EnergyWire: The theory was straightforward and seemed to hold with common sense: One day soon, the Earth would hit its halfway point of global oil production -- its "peak" -- and thereafter, it would see a steady decline. Those behind the concept called it "peak oil."
The theorists wrote books and rose high in academic departments. One of them, M. King Hubbert, had a famous bell curve named after him and discovered disciples willing to follow. They found themselves at the vanguard of a movement that essentially...