The other meaning of “peak oil”

Worldwide demand for petroleum will peak in less than 10 years, according Arthur D. Little in a story about a similar report from Greenpeace, as reported in the Guardian:

Peter Hughes, who spent much of his career at BP and BG, and is now director for global energy at consultancy firm Arthur D Little, recently wrote a report titled 'The Beginning of the End for Oil?' He supports the Greenpeace view and said the correlation between oil demand and GDP growth has been weakened. "It is widely accepted that demand in OECD countries has plateaued and is going into decline but it has also been thought that would be massively outweighed by growth in China. But the Chinese think long-term and identified some time ago that the biggest threat to their economic growth was an increasing dependency on imported energy, which is anathema to them. The conclusion is clear – to reduce the reliance on hydrocarbons through energy efficiency and fundamental technology change. I think we will reach peak oil demand in the middle of the next decade."

The Chinese energy independence strategy will tend to hold down petroleum prices but increase CO2 emissions as China exploits coal instead of oil.