Peak Oil Concerns

[Loran Cehack]

For those unfamiliar refer to the following article or google if you think you need something more concise.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,,1464050,00.html

My question to you is:

Do you feel that this is a legitimate concern?
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[Tendou Souji]

Yes. Very much a legitimate concern.

[eXistence of Fly]

The worlds far to dependant on oil for it not to be a concern, and the fact that the article linked to was quoted as saying 'dont worry about it, it wont happen for years' is utterly narrow minded and selfish.
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[sybillious]

next year? not likely; in our lifetimes? most definitely; oil isn't a renewable resource; our overuse of it in the past few decades has shrunk supplies even further *america's obsession with bigger vehicles is an example of our refusal to accept the inevitable.*

what is our response as a whole? deny the situation, rather than accept that yes, even conservation won't stretch it out indefinitely. rather than fund research into alternative fuels, our government shifts funds to other pursuits, like wars or further ruining of diplomatic relationships.

it's time to take our heads out of our nether regions and face reality; if we don't find an alternative soon, we may end up waging a war for resources directly, instead of covertly.
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prinny...DOOD!

gotta gotta get a...SPICE WEASEL!

to paraphrase my fellow mod, parallax:
I hate my job with the passionately burning intensity of a thousand fiery suns.

[Sage]

With some people saying that I'll be near dead when we run out and others saying that it'll happen tomorrow, I can't believe either. It is a legitimate concern, but these people have to closer together in the results of their studies before I think I'll be overly concerned. Regardless, we should be preparing; procrastination is not a good habit to get into.
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[Milan Fiori]

In my AP envorimental sciene class we actually turned this issue into a huge project, where we proposed to our highschool who was currently going a 20 million dollar renovation to change the school to complete solar power. They gave us approval as long as we did all the work, coming up all the nessacery numbers and designs. We ended up spending the entire school year talking with the renovators of the school, and a bunch of different departments from the school doing this.

Eventually it came down to having complete approval but lack of funding. So we wrote the Melinda and William Gates Foundation for a donation. By the time we got a response I had already graduated.

This was back in 03, and currently the school running at about 65% solar power. Once the full renovations are done, it should be at about 120% with the school selling back stored electricity to the power company.

Anyways to stay on topic, from the research we did, it'll be about 12-15 years before fossil fuels run out.
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Be awed by our prowess!

[Vextor]

Petroleum will never really "run dry" because small amounts are created all the time through a natural geological process. However, once we reach the "peak," our lives will start changing gradually.

The main reason why alternatove energy sources, such as solar, pneumatic, geo-thermal, nuclear, etc are not pursued as enthusiastically as others is because of cost. Oil is dirt cheap, and converting it to energy and other petroleum-derived materials is cost-efficient. Companies rather spend money on cheaper materials than expensive stuff.

Once oil production peaks, alternative sources of energy and materials (such as plastic and petrol-derived industrial lubricants, sealants, solvents, etc) will gain greater capital investment, possibly from oil companies who would start to look for alternative soruces of income. Once investment pours in, new technology would be found, making these alternative sources of energy cheaper.

As for petrol-derived materials, there's already technology that can make similar stuff from epoxy/resin. It's just that they are still expensive.

There's also plenty of coal remaining on this planet; which has been abandoned by many nations as a fuel source due to petrol being easier to process. Coal mining will probably become widespread again as oil runs out; you can make synthetic fuel pretty easily from coal as well.

Basically, the average citizen probably need not worry. Panic based on lack of knowledge can cause greater economic problems. Market forces of suppy/demand will take care of this issue.

[Camus the Noble]

This is a very, very legitmate concern. The world is run on oil, and power-supplying companies are too cheap to try to utilize other types of energy. Something needs to be done about this, and fast.

[Destiny's Warrior]

Hmm, i never really noticed how low Oil was really is. Well, bring on the Hydrogen powered cars and a small reducment of pollution.
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CAAANONBALL

[Maximillian]

I think the problem is the process of making hydrogen right now relies havily on petroleum-powered mechanisms.
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[Cedric]

Well, sort of. Hydrogen, itself, is only as good as the original energy source it's made from. Technology right now produces Hydrogen from Natural Gas or to a lesser extent, coal which releases Carbon dioxide into the air. Scaling up the process would add to global warming and its effects. As SARS has mentioned already, no one is willing to put up the cost for such projects, for now.

The only way "green" way Hydrogen can be used is if it's created by means of Carbon Dioxide-free process. This would require a massive expansion of solar, wind, and/or nuclear power to generate electricity. Generated electricity would then undergo a process of electrolysis to make Hydrogen.

I also read in an article that the government is studying how to exploit the country's coal surplus to make Hydrogen. Coal gasification releases C02 in the air, but the plan is to store the C02 safely underground. But that method hasn't been done before.

Hydrogen storage and practical Hydrogen cars are some obstacles as well.
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[eXistence of Fly]

[Masaya]

Yeah, honestly I think it's lame, that the companys are buyign out all of these 3rd generation cars that are super efficent and can run on hydrogen. But anyways I did overhear someone talk about they just passed a bill making it able for us to start drilling into our Alaskan oil supply... They passed it at like midnight so it was too late to actually put it into the presses. However I"m sure we'll hear alot more of it on the news soon.
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[Ninjar]

That is ridiculous, they don't even know how much oil is up there. Destroying untouched wildlife for the profit of the already too rich oil companies. It makes me so mad. :evil:

[Masaya]

Honestly, I wish we would just run out of oil in the next few years. I want the gas prices to for a while just completely jump to like 10 dollars a gallon, then be completely gone. People can finally walk places. And new types of cars can finally be forced to be put into production. I think it's what needs to happen.
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