A Saudi oil expert stated that only %18 of oil in the earth is being utilized. The remaining %82 he stated could fuel the world for 140 years. If that's true, why the heck do I want to drive a hybrid?
2006-09-13 13:48:33 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Environment
You need to find the oil, pump it (and be willing to do so), ship it, and refine it. A lack in any of these areas will cause the price to go up as well as worldwide demand. There is also pollution concerns.
2006-09-13 13:53:18 · answer #1 · answered by Glenn N 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That 18% - 82% might be an exageration, but there definitely is some oil in the earth that we arent using. Like for instance. Say we have found some oil that's very deep in the earth and the kind of rock in that neighborhood is hard to drill through. So we know the oil is there, but it would cost a lot to get it out. OK, say it cost $15 per gallon to get it out and you could only sell it for $3 a gallon. That wouldnt be such a good deal. We have to wait until oil prices get much higher before we use that oil.
Or, the oil might be soaked into rocks. We could get the oil by digging up the rocks, heating them with very hot steam, and then condensing the oil that evaporated out of the rocks. That would cost a lot, too. And when you are finished you would have a pile of broken rock about 3 to 5 times larger than the hole you dug it out of. So you would have a huge pile of rocks. This is basically what some people in Canada are investigating in "oil shale."
But no matter where you get the oil, when you burn it, you make carbon dioxide, which is (definitely, no matter what the political crackpots say) causing global warming. Global warming is a really bad thing which is going to cause some really major problems in the next 100 years. So, not burning as much oil would be a really good plan.
2006-09-13 21:51:14 · answer #2 · answered by matt 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because we'll be in trouble after those 140 years.
2006-09-13 20:55:51 · answer #3 · answered by The Lurkdragon 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋