• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

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

Page 5 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Step 1: Buy every solar panel you can find
Step 2: Line them up in the Sahara Desert
Step 3: Run power lines to civilization
Step 4: Profit!
 
All of the information sources you used are assuming that we have found all the oil that is available. There is still an entire ocean floor to take advantage of (which takes up more of the earth than land) - and we haven't even tapped into Alaska yet.

That said, I'm not so worried about running out of oil and it's effect on energy, i.e. transportation and electricity. I AM worried about running out of it for plastics production. Our society has greatly benefited and is becoming dependent on everything plastic.
 
im going to don a leather outfit and cruise the mean barren roads of outback australia killing people for their gasoline

i think we could all learn a thing or 2 from the road warrior 🙂
 
Originally posted by: BriGy86
i think we could all learn a thing or 2 from the road warrior 🙂
Click to expand...

Right. In the next 5 years I will have developed the largest swine farm in the world. :Q
 
Originally posted by: AntiEverything
I'm picturing solar panels on the moon that send energy back to earth via laser or some such thing.
Click to expand...

It would cost less and be more energy efficient just to cover every building and vehicle in solar panels on earth.
 
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: BriGy86
i think we could all learn a thing or 2 from the road warrior 🙂
Click to expand...

Right. In the next 5 years I will have developed the largest swine farm in the world. :Q
Click to expand...

and don't hand it over to that bastard Master blaster:laugh:
 
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.
Click to expand...

whoa there big fella. we get hydrogen by splitting up water atoms, which takes more energy than you get back out of it. the power you're trying to get out of it plus the losses have to come from the grid. and solar, wind, and hydroelectric sources won't even BEGIN to cover our current energy needs, not to mention our current needs plus the needs of all of our cars! coal isn't even close to being infinite, and it takes energy and men working crappy jobs to get it. nuclear is probably our best bet, but it comes at a big risk and some big questions (what do we do with the waste when we can't even agree what to do with today's waste?).
 
Originally posted by: thomsbrain
nuclear is probably our best bet, but it comes at a big risk and some big questions (what do we do with the waste when we can't even agree what to do with today's waste?).
Click to expand...

Isn't the new pebble-bed nuclear power plant design nearly waste-free?
 
I can't understand this trend AGAINST Nuclear power in many countries.

Nuclear power for the win.

Seriously, we'll probably end up inserting plutonium rods into our laptops.

Hehehe 😉
 
Originally posted by: McCarthy
We finally got an E85 outlet in town (85% ethanol). Most cars can't use it, but those that can are reporting very minimal if any real world mpg loss. Still a lot of gas, but 85% less than most are burning now. 75% for me since I always run a 10% blend already, which gets me exactly the same mpg as regular unleaded. Oh, and E85 is selling for $1.59 a gallon currently. Yeah, because it's subsidized, but that works to get people to make sure their next new car can use it, gets the process started.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

maize
 
Originally posted by: Eli
Originally posted by: JoeKing
Originally posted by: Eli
Originally posted by: JoeKing
Originally posted by: Wadded Beef
Originally posted by: JoeKing
Corn or "maize" is the future

Corn
Click to expand...

that's what the "Native Americans" call it! 😛
Click to expand...

😀

But there is some fact behind my "maize" miracle

If we were to use solar powered corn planters of some type, we would get over the input/yield problem.
Click to expand...
If we were to ever move to an alcohol based infrastructure, it won't involve distillation and corn. There are more efficient processes being developed.
Click to expand...
What other methods are in the works? I honestly would like to know.

I just think this is the most likely source for when things get desperate because 1. The US has so much land 2. We've been planting corn for centuries and are perfecting the yield per acre 3. Our govt has already poured tons of moola over the years into this research.

Genetically engineered corn aimed for ethanol production is likely right around the bend.
Click to expand...
Umm...

Using the figures provided on the website, we would need...

26.1 pounds of corn per gallon
7,110 pounds per acre
131,000,000,000 gallons of gasoline consumed per year
1 gallon gasoline = 1.5 gallons of ethanol
196,500,000,000 gallons of ethanol would be consumed per year

721,329,114 acres needed

43,560 square feet = 1 acre
27,878,400 square feet = 1 mile

2,870,084 square miles in contiguous US
80,013,349,785,600 square feet in contiguous US
1,836,853,760 acres in the contiguous US.

About 39% of our entire surface area..

Like that is going to happen. 😛


Energy sucks. Like I said, we can't just pull it out of our asses, and nothing even comes close to the energy density(return:investment) of oil right now.
Click to expand...

First, for the doom and gloom people who think the world will end in 50 years, only 3 % of electricity comes from oil, the majority is coal which the US has an absurd amount of. Transportation accounts for 67 %, and is the real problem, using substances like ethanol for now will extend that retarded 50 year number and give us more time to come up with alternatives for fueling transportation

Ethanol doesn't have totally replace gas, it just has to reduce the amount of gas used. So calulating the amount of ethanol needed to totally replace gas is fun for having a dramatic effect, but is not really worth anything. Also, corn isn't even the best alterternative as it produces about 250 gal of ethanol/acre. Substance like sugar cane can produce 600-900 gal/acre while still producing sugar.

 
How long does gasoline last for? Would it be wise to buy a 100,000 gallon tank and fill it up?
 
Originally posted by: piroroadkill
I can't understand this trend AGAINST Nuclear power in many countries.

Nuclear power for the win.

Seriously, we'll probably end up inserting plutonium rods into our laptops.

Hehehe 😉
Click to expand...

Go look at that Chernobly thread!

The half-life of that radiactive sh!te is a major bummer.
 
Theres no impending doom here!! Anyone remember Y2K? How quickly we forget!

"At the rate computers are being updated, it will take 20 years to fix them all etc etc blah blah blah"

These books are written by very smart people willing to capitalize on your stupidity into believing them. Maybe its necessary for a few of these bozos to come out of the woodwork so people up and listen, but the dire predictions in the book are absolutely not going to come through.

Just because theres 100 nuclear power plants now doesnt mean 100 more couldnt be built in a snap. Hydrogen is obviously the wave of the future...its yet to be perfected, but that doesnt mean it wont be. Solar etc etc.

And dont forget the big solar panel in space that can microwave energy down to earth...incredibly efficient because of the lack of atmosphere.

There will be more than enough power in the future, more than likely way more than we have today. We'll move onto electric and hydrogen cars WHEN WE NEED TO. Oil is still cheap.

Its all about capitalism, and capitalism will absolutely solve the problem when it finally needs solving.
 
Originally posted by: dderidex
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!
Click to expand...

i like this one better 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top