Another miss from "swing and a miss Chris"
5 minutes with Google will confirm that per-capita, inflation adjusted GDP is about the same now as it was in 2005. Per-capita oil-consumption, on the other hand, is way, way off.
How Chris "the big miss" goes from this to the argument of "the recession is killing oil consumption" is a mystery.
You can't use this "if I'm wrong show me where" defense with this stuff. If you're confronted with 2+2 and your result is negative 3 and a half, then everyone with a brain knows your wrong.
There is a reason why Nelder's opinions are way, way, out on the lunatic fringe - it's not because he's smarter than everyone else. Yergin has more mindshare than Nelder for a reason.
The reason for the oil decrease is probably common sense stuff that Nelder has trouble understanding. Some people are driving less, some people are driving much more fuel efficient cars, the shipping industry has moved some traffic from trucks to trains and barges, people have switched from heating oil to other heating solutions, the airline industry packs in more passengers on each flight, etc.
The people who drive the most - they are the ones who are picking up Priuses and Diesels, etc.
