Peak Oil is it closer than we think

[Civickiller80]

Heres a wikileaks news story

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/saudi-oil-reserves-overstated-40-wikileaks-20110209-073200-649.html

 

[ragincaucasian]

1- natural resources are finite and with expanding markets in Asia, we are going to find the limits sooner than we think
2- what do you think governments would have us to believe? That petrol is stable or that there is "nothing to see here"?

If you believe in peak oil, there is no way you can hold a legitimate argument against a Nuclear Iran

 

[marquis2]

The New Scientist in the 1960s predicted that oil would effectively run out by 1984.
There is in fact an almost inexhaustible amount of fossil fuel on the planet, the only problem will be extracting it cheaply.All the oxygen in the atmosphere is balanced by fossil fuel (that's how it got there) plus there's probably other fuels not of biological origin ie not fossil fuels.Many planets have large amounts of methane which of course aren't biological in origin.

 

[D-rock]

The New Scientist in the 1960s predicted that oil would effectively run out by 1984.
There is in fact an almost inexhaustible amount of fossil fuel on the planet, the only problem will be extracting it cheaply.All the oxygen in the atmosphere is balanced by fossil fuel (that's how it got there) plus there's probably other fuels not of biological origin ie not fossil fuels.Many planets have large amounts of methane which of course aren't biological in origin.

It's not just being able to extract it cheaply. A lot of it will never be able to be practically extracted at all at any price baring very great advances in technology, and by that point we probably will no longer need fossil fuel. Even that isn't counting the time it takes to put carbon and other things plants absorb in as useful a form as oil, which is on the scale of millions of years. In a practical real world sense there is an exhaustible supply.

 

[marquis2]

It's not just being able to extract it cheaply. A lot of it will never be able to be practically extracted at all at any price baring very great advances in technology, and by that point we probably will no longer need fossil fuel. Even that isn't counting the time it takes to put carbon and other things plants absorb in as useful a form as oil, which is on the scale of millions of years. In a practical real world sense there is an exhaustible supply.

I remember the North Sea oil finds.They were regarded as something interesting, nothing more. Along came the 1970s oil crisis, oil prices shot through the roof and suddenly it became economic to develop technology and extract it.
Resources technically are finite, in practice they are inexhaustible on a human scale.
I think in the foreseeable future we will need fossil fuel. Electricity is a good energy source but really only in fixed locations.Batteries come nowhere near petrol on a power to weight or cost to weight basis.An electric car is fine in the city but little use in enormous parts of the world.They also use lots of scarce and expensive materials. But you can stack a few drums of oil easily and cheaply anywhere.It yields a lot of energy and doesn't deteriorate.

 

[Tittyman5000]

There's an endless supply that we haven't even tapped into yet & its in North America

 

[ragincaucasian]

not sure if y'all realize how ignorant it is to suggest that a fossil fuel could actually have "near endless supply" of

 

[marquis2]

not sure if y'all realize how ignorant it is to suggest that a fossil fuel could actually have "near endless supply" of

Over millions of years plant activity and planetary events (wind, rain, earthquakes etc) converted all but a tiny amount of the CO2 into the atmosphere into free oxygen and fossil fuel.
There's enough fossil fuel then to reverse that process and use up all the oxygen in the air. That's how much fossil fuel there is.

 

[enndaley]

I think that the planetoid Eris-out beyond Pluto-is going to eventually slam into Mars, causing a bank shot into the moon and/or us, ultimately leading to a spectacular "lets-see-CGI-effects-top-THIS" light show as everything crashes into the sun.

If that doesn't occur, it's Road Warrior time-guys with peculiar haircuts and assless leather pants marauding along the freeways-"Signal your lane changes, dammit!"

 

[Civickiller80]

its just gonna put a lot of pressure on oil production when emerging economies such as Indian and Chinas demand for oil increases....

good wiki article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil

 

[Rey C.]

its just gonna put a lot of pressure on oil production when emerging economies such as Indian and Chinas demand for oil increases....

good wiki article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil

I think that's the key point. As the emerging economies demand more and the the reserves become harder/more expensive to get to, it will surely affect prices - probably sooner than later. So while there might still be plenty of crude underground, if the pumping -> production -> refining costs result in a price to consumers of (say) $20/gallon for gasoline, that will have a shocking affect on most of the economies around the world.

Devoting more resources to R&D on things like cellulosic ethanol just makes sense (IMO). But with the "Drill, baby, drill!" crowd now gaining more influence (again), I don't expect that will happen. We will be at the mercy of unfriendly Middle East (and Latin American) interests for the balance my lifetime, I'm sure. Although the Canadian oil sands might pick up some of the slack.

Full speed ahead. Damn the torpedoes!

 

[Civickiller80]

I think that's the key point. As the emerging economies demand more and the the reserves become harder/more expensive to get to, it will surely affect prices - probably sooner than later. So while there might still be plenty of crude underground, if the pumping -> production -> refining costs result in a price to consumers of (say) $20/gallon for gasoline, that will have a shocking affect on most of the economies around the world.

Devoting more resources to R&D on things like cellulosic ethanol just makes sense (IMO). But with the "Drill, baby, drill!" crowd now gaining more influence (again), I don't expect that will happen. We will be at the mercy of unfriendly Middle East (and Latin American) interests for the balance my lifetime, I'm sure. Although the Canadian oil sands might pick up some of the slack.

Full speed ahead. Damn the torpedoes!

the scary reality is everything is related to fuel costs...food and goods...transport by fuel...its gonna get nasty in a few years....

 

[ragincaucasian]

if this is a topic that interests you, this movie is available on instant queue (Netflix) and is worth watching because it does illustrate the big picture of dependence on finite fossil fuels

 

[ragincaucasian]

Over millions of years plant activity and planetary events (wind, rain, earthquakes etc) converted all but a tiny amount of the CO2 into the atmosphere into free oxygen and fossil fuel.
There's enough fossil fuel then to reverse that process and use up all the oxygen in the air. That's how much fossil fuel there is.

http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/fossilfuels.htm