Energy investment banker Matthew R. Simmons has dispensed energy advice for over 40 years, to everyone from President Bush to audiences in China. The author of "Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy" and founder of Houston-based energy investment firm Simmons & Company International, Mr. Simmons argues that now is the time to start planning for the post-oil age.


"Peak oil" theory posits that is only a matter of time before oil output hits the height of its bell curve, but Mr. Simmons believes production may have already crested in December 2005.

More urgent than the date of the peak, however, is the response to it, says Mr. Simmons. Overhauling the way the world views transportation needs, such as the morning commute, could reduce energy and oil use, he argues, which would in turn buy time to find sustainable alternative fuels.

Full article continued at The Wall Street Journal.