What Happens When the Oil Runs Out?

[ioan]

Freedom of choice.

I would rather call it lack of education and religious indoctrination.

[ioan]

When petroleum does run out the world’s population will have exploded to the point that providing sufficient energy to everyone to sustain a reasonable lifestyle will be impossible.

Even today “alternative” energy sources simply don’t even come close to providing the output necessary to maintain today’s population at the same levels as burning hydrocarbons does.

Quite simply, there is only one energy source that can provide similar energy output levels but its consequences, as demonstrated a couple of years ago in Japan, make it unattractive to most.

From my point of view the issue is not that we can not produce enough energy, the problem is that we use much more than we actually need.

[D-Type]

It appears that some posters on this thread have not read the article linked in post #1. I have, and have no reson to doubt the facts stated.

The reality is that oil and other fossil fuels are finite. The easiest reserves to exploit have been developed - British coal and Texan oil are two obvious examples. The number of places in the world where there might be oil reduces with each new find. The oil and coal will run out: the only question is "When?"

We have to do something before its too late. But what?

[Bagwan]

Poop .
We have enough fuel on the surface to replace that which big oil brings up from below .
We , and all our animals produce it every day .

Methane can easily take care of the heating , and most , if not all of the power .
Fill the rest up with solar , and we're golden .

And , I do mean golden , as , once the infrastructure is set up , the power is free .

Then , not OPEC nor anyone else controls your a$$ , in every sense .

[Mark]

We have twin problems of the easy supplies running down plus unprecedented demand due to developing economies in the likes of China.

[gadjo_dilo]

When the oil runs out we shall come back to Nature and live a less complicated happy life.

[Bagwan]

We have twin problems of the easy supplies running down plus unprecedented demand due to developing economies in the likes of China.

They all poop , too .

Seriously , there are sewage treatment plants around every town and city , and they could all be adapted to , instead of gassing off with aerobic bacteria , running anaerobic digesters .

That's two problems licked , as it would capture all that methane(natural gas) and stop it being a global warming issue , being about the worst of the greenhouse gasses , and stop all the sequestered carbon from underground sources being viable to extract .

[BleAivano]

I would like to hear your opinion of this article, my dear friends:

What Happens When the Oil Runs Out?

This is what happens: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...uk81wv5uM&t=12

The reality is that oil and other fossil fuels are finite.

Not only oil and fossil fuels, but also minerals and metals are finite.

Oil can in some extent be extracted from other sources like algae. The process is probably more complicated, probably takes longer time and
is probably more expensive but it works. Some plastics items like plastic bags, pens and etc are also no longer being
made by oil but rather from Potato starch. So I think we will be able to function even without regular oil.

Vehichles will hopefully be powered by hydrogen/electric hybrids and the worlds energy supply comes from hydrogen bases fusion power.
However the latter is something that probably that is another 30-40-50 years away from full scale use.

[Parabolica]

By the time the oil runs out, we will all have been enslaved by Apes.

Or Onions.

Vegetables will rise up and crush us.

[BDunnell]

I would rather call it lack of education and religious indoctrination.

Those are not the only reasons people have large families.