Peak Oil

[Nuke33]

This is a really interesting website.. I thought this was a crackpot joke thing when I first started reading it, but it has some very very convincing points on the growing problems with the world depencence on oil..

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Home.html

If you're interested, take a serious read of this site and lets hear what you think.

And being 23 years old, I for one am 'slightly' freaked out.. This may hit hard during my generations lifetime.

[Lizking]

Give me the date of peak on whale oil and we will talk.

[AdmRose]

I would say that I have a gun and I'm prepared, but according to that site I'll eventually run out of lube oil for it and then I'm really corn-cobbed.

[bigsky]

Originally posted by AdmRose
I would say that I have a gun and I'm prepared, but according to that site I'll eventually run out of lube oil for it and then I'm really corn-cobbed.

better stock up on lube oil.

[38ruk]

kinda wish i wouldnt have read that ...... 38

[superpug1]

u dont need lube oil, they have this dry lube stuff for guns now. the troops in iraq use it and u can easily order it, plus it doesnt trap dirt n grime as bad as oil. So, all ur prepared gun owners will someday rule part of the WORLD HAHAHAHAAAAAA. have a nice day.

[Thrawn]

In 45 years we went from horse and buggy, into space.  Colour me unworried about this one.

[Nuke33]

I thought this might have been a topic of intelligent discussion when I posted it, but apparently not.. Maybe that's exactly why something like this might happen.. Nobody thinks its real until it hits..

Somehow I also dont think you guys have really taken a good read of that website.. Either that or the basic economic principles are too difficult to understand for some of you..

[AdmRose]

Originally posted by Nuke33
I thought this might have been a topic of intelligent discussion when I posted it, but apparently not.. Maybe that's exactly why something like this might happen.. Nobody thinks its real until it hits..

Somehow I also dont think you guys have really taken a good read of that website.. Either that or the basic economic principles are too difficult to understand for some of you..

Well, considering in 2050 I'll be 68 years old it isn't worrying me too much. Face it, most of the BBS will be dead by then Another reason I'm not worrying? According to that site there is nothing we can do about it. The point of stressing over something that is an eventuality? None.

[oboe]

I agree with Nuke33 - anybody who is not concerned about this must not have read the website fully.

While his specific conclusions may be on the end-of-the-world sensationalist/disaster side, its hard to argue with his overall theme.    Oil is going to be a tough act to follow.

I followed some of the hyperlinks, too, just to make sure he was honest with his facts.

[Habu]

You can make oil.

You can make it out of plants, it is not very hard to do at all (already there are many people running diesels on vegtable oil). You can make it out of other hydrocarbons such as coal. You can make it in a bioreactor.

If the cost of in ground oil reaches the stage where these other sources of oil become economic then they will start to appear.

That is how cars and trucks can be run.

Trains, busses and subways can be converted to electricity. You can make electricity using nuclear generation and suppliment it with other non hydrocarbon generation methods such as wind power and solar power and geothermal and hydro power.

The big prize in the energy producing game is doing what nature does. Make a fusion reactor like the sun and turn hydrogen into helium. Then you would have unlimited power.

[lazs2]

Oh boo hoooo hooo... the sky is falling...

There is probly more undiscovered oil than we have allready used... it also seems to replenish itself.  

We will maybe have an uncomfortable short period while we switch over to some other energy source..

all the crying and hand wringing is a waste of time.. things will work out and you will be pissed that you ever read the stupid website and were gullible enough to lose hair over it.

lazs

[oboe]

If you guys read the article, you would know the author does not dispute that oil can be made from alternatives.    But it is much more expensive, less efficient, and will take years to be integrated in the economy to the extent that cheap oil is.   That is the gist of his doomsaying - that even though alternatives are available, the shocks caused by peaking out on oil (where production declines 3%/yr (Cheney even claims this) while the world economy and population continue to demand more oil, and speculators drive up the price - these shocks will come too rapidly for the economy to deal with and the world will have a catastrophic financial meltdown.

Now that is 'sky is falling' rhetoric based on indepedently extrapolating present trends.    We can assume that the real trends will be interdependent and self-moderating, and so his claims are absolutely worst case and won't be realized.    Plus he seems something of a huckster as his website offers items for sale related to the predicted crisis.

Having said that, I believe cheap oil is a non-renewable resource until I see scientific proof otherwise.    In 1998, oil was around $10-15 a barrel, and now its over $60. I'm not selling the SUV just yet, but I probably won't own another one, and I'll probably make the switch from a powerboat to a sailboat in the next few years.     Soon as I'm too old to slalom.

[lazs2]

or... you could get an electric golf cart like all those handwringers did in the early 70's when the sky fell on us.

lazs

[oboe]

I think I'd rather bike, and its better for you anyway.