Do you think people will be able to satisfy energy needs after the oil and other fossil fuels run out?

Question

As things stand now.
i.e. without any stepped up investment in alternative energy

as well as the effect on plastics (its made from oil!)

Answer 1

Simple answer-yes.

We've survived thousands of years without oil, and only about 150 years with it. The "without it" phase was a lot longer...

I think we'll adapt....

Answer 2

There is always alternatives. Plastic bags can be replaced with paper bags. Plastic containers can be replaced with cardboard or wood. Electricity made with oil can be replaced with nuclear fission, solar, wind, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric, and a whole slew of power plants. The biggest crunch would be transportation since 95% of the world uses gasoline in their cars.

Answer 3

Most serious analysts do not contest that the peaking of world conventional oil production will occur within the relatively near future, which means sometime between now and 2030. The term “near future” applies to this seemingly long time horizon because massive, crash program mitigation worldwide has been shown to require of the order of 20 years if the world is to avoid serious economic damage. Thus, it is clear that the time for decisive action is either near or may have already passed

Answer 4

Sure it will happen.

The question is how much money will it cost, and how will our standard of living be affected.

Clearly we can save money by developing and using alternative energy and energy conservation now.

Your comment about plastics is a good one. At some point people will marvel at the fact we used petroleum wastefully as fuel.

Answer 5

Which country is known as the Saudi Arabia of Coal?

Which country has the world largest coal reserves?

Don't forget it take fossil fuels to manufacture alternative energy products such as solar panels and plastic/composite windmills.

Remember that refining ethanol from corn, sugar cane or other bio materials causes waste products that pollute the environment.

There are no easy answers. There are no simple answers.

Answer 6

if it happened tomorrow, we would all be in deep trouble. I read a book called "the end of oil", it may have been a little alarmist, but in general probably fairly written. If you think about your question, the answer would be yes, once the population reaches a sustainable level, meaning about 6 billion people die off, there will be enough energy for the survivors, not that they will be having too much fun.

Answer 7

the wind in the USA's plains states, if fully developed, could completely supply the electrical needs of the country.

Answer 8

there are already alternatives to oil, the reason why we aren't usin them, is because exxon doesn't own them.