So, we have about 45 years 'till there's no more oil....

dak125

Golden Member
Jan 11, 2003
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And what are you gonna do without your car, heat, plastic, and every other freaking thing that required petroleum to be created?

I just finished up my final research paper dealing with petroleum. Just about everyone I could find (books, scholarly journals etc) agree that oil production is going to peak around 2010 (5 freaking years from now) and current known oil reserves will run out by 2045-2050. We have roughly 5 years until a bidding war starts as to who gets the remaining oil. We then have to come up with an alternate renewable energy source.

The worst part is the fact that most other sources of energy (hydrogen, nuclear etc etc etc) really won't work. They all either require petroleum to be produced or the net energy output is less than the energy needed to create it.

So, what are your thoughts on the subject? How are we supposed to get our government more interested in alternative fuel sources.

**I am not a environmentalist or anything, just a realist. Oil will run out, no one knows the exact date but it will happen.**
 

dak125

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Jan 11, 2003
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Originally posted by: Frew
Electricity?

And how is that created?

It's scary, seemingly everything requires oil or natural gas (which is also running out btw).
 

ed21x

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 2001
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What in the world makes you think Nuclear power won't work? As long as atoms can be split, and thet energy used to boil water, it is defintiely a viable resource. In addition, there is an infinite supply of coal, hydrogen, and solar, not to mention hydroelectric. Since we've already begun making the transition to gas/electric hybrids, taking the step to electric shouldn't be that far fetched.
 

DAGTA

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Worst case scenario:
Many people die of starvation (food processing and shipment requires oil)
Survivors turn to walking, riding bicycles, growing gardens and living healthier lives. Work lives also slow down and become less time obsessive. After starvation, the rest doesn't sound too bad. ;)

Of course, that's worst case and I doubt it will happen. Also, several studies on output and trends are predicting that peak oil WAS hit in the year 2000 and we're already in the downward trend. Think about how that ties into politics and what kind of men (and their backgrounds) are currently running the USA.
 

QuitBanningMe

Banned
Mar 2, 2005
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Originally posted by: dak125
Originally posted by: Frew
Electricity?

And how is that created?

It's scary, seemingly everything requires oil or natural gas (which is also running out btw).

Tidal dams, river dams, solar, nuclear, wind, geothermal, helium 3, garbage power.................................
 

DAGTA

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: ed21x
What in the world makes you think Nuclear power won't work? As long as atoms can be split, and thet energy used to boil water, it is defintiely a viable resource. In addition, there is an infinite supply of coal, hydrogen, and solar, not to mention hydroelectric. Since we've already begun making the transition to gas/electric hybrids, taking the step to electric shouldn't be that far fetched.

infinite, eh? Do you know the definition of 'infinite'?
 

dak125

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Jan 11, 2003
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Originally posted by: ed21x
What in the world makes you think Nuclear power won't work? As long as atoms can be split, and thet energy used to boil water, it is defintiely a viable resource. In addition, there is an infinite supply of coal, hydrogen, and solar, not to mention hydroelectric. Since we've already begun making the transition to gas/electric hybrids, taking the step to electric shouldn't be that far fetched.

The Party's Over by Richard Heinberg. Suffice to say that according to him and his sources, it won't. Nuclear power plants are no longer built regularly, you need to use fast-breeder reactors to create the quanitities of plutonium needed to support more plants. Uranium must be mined and much of the energy needed to get to it required petroleum, which we're running out of. "After nearly give decades of the development and use of atomic energy, no country in the world has yet succeeded in building a permanent high-level nuclear waste repository." So, there's no where to put the waste that's created.

These are just a few reasons why nuclear power won't work.
 

ChooChooChooseMe

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Apr 7, 2005
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Not to mention all the hot air coming out of ATOT! And ya, solar, hydro electric, and nuclear seem like the way to go (Plus all the other ones I didnt mention)
 

Eli

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Oct 9, 1999
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**I am not a environmentalist or anything, just a realist. Oil will run out, no one knows the exact date but it will happen.**

And that is the bottom line. Anybody that doesen't at least acknowledge this is simply a fool.
 

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,155
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Originally posted by: Eli
**I am not a environmentalist or anything, just a realist. Oil will run out, no one knows the exact date but it will happen.**

And that is the bottom line. Anybody that doesen't at least acknowledge this is simply a fool.
I agree that oil will definitely run out eventually, but it won't happen in any of our lifetimes.
 

dderidex

Platinum Member
Mar 13, 2001
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Nah, we just have to travel back in a time 3 million years or so and artificially breed a whole F*CKLOAD more dinosaurs, then kill them all and let them decompose in swamps.

Problem solved!
 

dak125

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Jan 11, 2003
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Originally posted by: ChooChooChooseMe
Not to mention all the hot air coming out of ATOT! And ya, solar, hydro electric, and nuclear seem like the way to go (Plus all the other ones I didnt mention)

You guys should check out The Party's Over by Richard Heinberg. He goes into detail about all the different viable alternate fuel sources and why they will or will not work. The best part about the book is the fact that all my scholarly journals I've found support his claims. This book is just amazing, the information it gives is very intimidating.
 

OS

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
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You fear mongers know that there is such a thing as synthetic petroleum right? That you can make petroleum from natural gas or coal right?

Sorry, but civilization is not going to collapse because there is "no more oil".
 

Spikesoldier

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 2001
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Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Originally posted by: Eli
**I am not a environmentalist or anything, just a realist. Oil will run out, no one knows the exact date but it will happen.**

And that is the bottom line. Anybody that doesen't at least acknowledge this is simply a fool.
I agree that oil will definitely run out eventually, but it won't happen in any of our lifetimes.


oil will run out eventually, but not forever, as in a couple of billion years, there will be oil again. but will we have to use oil in billions of years? probably not or we have destroyed ourselves, or the earth has collided with an asteroid or the sun.

and the idiot who thinks we have infinate coal and thinks coal is a renewable resource, please end yourself now.
 

anxi80

Lifer
Jul 7, 2002
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ill be around 68-70 y/o... oh well, im sure i would've had a good run by then.
 

dak125

Golden Member
Jan 11, 2003
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Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Originally posted by: Eli
**I am not a environmentalist or anything, just a realist. Oil will run out, no one knows the exact date but it will happen.**

And that is the bottom line. Anybody that doesen't at least acknowledge this is simply a fool.
I agree that oil will definitely run out eventually, but it won't happen in any of our lifetimes.

That's the other issue, the government energy agency (the exact name is just not clicking right now) produces hopeful aka bull$hit numbers. It's also worth mentioning that major oil is the #2 largest contributor to political parties in our country. What's even worse is that pharmaceutical companies are #1...I wonder how all these drugs get through the FDA? :D
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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I don't think many of you understand why solar, hydroelectric, wind... will not work.

Do any of you realize the energy density of oil?

Well, I guess I should say that it could work, but .. it would require some serious lifestyle adjustments. We waste a lot of energy.

We had better start building nuclear power plants, or building those new efficient alcohol distilleries.

There is currently no other solution, and if we sit on our asses hoping for technology to save us for too long.. we'll be in a real crunch.

Also remember that the supply of oil is NOT going to turn off like a faucet. That's not how it works.

We aren't going to literally run out of oil anytime soon. That's nonsense.

It is the death of cheap oil that we are really worried about. Even if the machinery needed to mine uranium was run on synthetic diesel, they would still run if uranium was needed.

When supplies get short, we the consumer either pays for it, or simply doesen't get it.

The costs will eventually be passed onto us, I'm just saying that we've got more to worry about than how we're going to run heavy machinery - that can be dealt with.
 

dak125

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Jan 11, 2003
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Originally posted by: OS
You fear mongers know that there is such a thing as synthetic petroleum right? That you can make petroleum from natural gas or coal right?

Sorry, but civilization is not going to collapse because there is "no more oil".

Natural gas is running out as well. Coal is not infinite and emits extreme amounts pollution. It's also probable that the creation of synthetic petroleum requires more energy to be created than it produces.
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: OS
You fear mongers know that there is such a thing as synthetic petroleum right? That you can make petroleum from natural gas or coal right?

Sorry, but civilization is not going to collapse because there is "no more oil".
There are finite supplies of both natural gas and coal.

Who cares if we have enough energy for the next 100 years? 150? 200?

That's still insignificant in the scheme of time, and we should still be looking for alternatives.

We can't just pull energy out of our asses. If we "ran out" of oil and started using natural gas, we would just use the natural gas up that much faster.

Either we find some grand new energy source, or we change our lifestyles. There isn't going to be a way around it as far as we can see right now.
 

OS

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
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Originally posted by: Eli
It is the death of cheap oil that we are really worried about. Even if the machinery needed to mine uranium was run on synthetic diesel, they would still run if uranium was needed.

Breeder reactors produce nuclear waste that is still fissile. There are supposed to still be lots of radioactives on this planet and when you start figuring in breeder reactors, the world is not going to run out of energy for several hundreds of years.