How long can we go before we use up all of our earth's fossil fuels, and what will be the consequences?

Answer 1

The problem is not that we will use up all the fossil fuels. The problem is in two other aspects of modern development.

1. We are using up the highest quality fossil fuels and starting to use more poor quality fuels.

2. The supply and demand of fossil fuels are creating a deep difference between the rich and oil producing nations, and the poor and oil lacking nations. The rich nations will buy the oil they need and drive the price up beyond the ability of poor nations to buy the fuel they need.

There are bad consequences to both of these processes.

1. Poor fuels burn with less energy and produce more pollution, including CO2 and SO2. This means that air pollution will increase, acid rain will increase, and greenhouse gasses will increase, as more fuel is burned producing less energy.

2. Economic forces have fueled many wars in the past, so economic disparities can fuel future conflicts. As poor economies fail, starvation and joblessness will drive many societies to violence. They will blame the rich nations for their plight which will continuously fuel terrorism and despotism.

;-D The longer the economic forces of the major world economies focus on using cheap, high quality fuels, which are at present fueling the world's booming economy, the harder the crash and longer the depression will be.

Answer 2

Depends a lot on who you are asking. Fossil fuel use is a political matter. Some would have you believe we are on the brink of exhausting the supply now in order to advance their agenda. Koyto is an example of this. Others might say between 100 and 200 years. When you say fossil fuel, that includes coal and not just oil. In 100 years we will most likely be meeting our enery needs through solar power. I think there is little to worry about other than political agendas.

Answer 3

There are plenty of fossil fuels, although most of them are harder to obtain and of lower "quality" than what we take out now.

For example coal tar and oil shale each have as much energy as all of the world's regular oil reserves. With coal there is even much more. These can all be converted into gas but at a higher cost than regular oil.

Even with oil new technology allows us to get a lot more from existing wells and from previously impractical sources.

Adding it all up we may have 400 or more years without any changes in major energy sources and even assuming massive growth in use.

The problem comes up with where all of the CO2 will go. If we burn up ALL of those fossil fuels there will be plenty of Global warming. That is the real limit to how much fossil fuels we can use. How much CO2 we can put in the air, not how much we can take from the ground.

For that limit there is plenty of debate ranging from "we have too much CO2 already" to "5-10 degrees global warming is tollerable and good in many cases".

The global warming concerns will move society away from fossil fuels. Humanity will learn to change. Remember a couple hunded years ago many people got their light from burining whale oil. That whale oil ran out, but our lights now are a whole lot better coming from different sources.

Answer 4

I'd say at the rate the popultion of the world is expanding (exponentially) it'll be around 150 years before we exhast the natural resources but there could be alternative fuels explored to save the natural ones or substitute for them. If we don't all drown in a massive flood or meteor slamming into the earth causing another ice age.

Answer 5

We will never have to worry about having enough energy.

Just be ready to pay more for it

There is a lot of oil in the ground yet, it's just more costly to get it out.

We will find more efficient ways to use energy.

We will use more of the alternate fuels we already have.

Then there is the big possibility of nuclear fussion.

Answer 6

Just watch the movie Syrannia with Georges Clooney, and you'll have a pretty good answer to your question (and it's kind of scary!!)...

Answer 7

From what a friend of mine at JPL said, we still have a vast amount of resources still untapped...we could go for centuries.

Answer 8

colder winters more rain, that's what AL ignorantass Gore says. global warming is a gigantic farce.