Why is nobody talking about peak oil?

Question

People seem oblivious to this problem and think that oil will last forever and we can continue this 'wonderful' way of life we have forever. Peak oil will occur within the next few years and after that it will become very costly to extract, and soon will be worthless to extract. That process will happen in less than 40 years, and there are NO alternative sources to replace oil. Nothing can meet the energy demands we have today with 6.5 billion people in the world. Energy like wind, solar, and hydroelectric will never meet demands. Nuclear will never meet demands, as we would need 10,000 more plants in less than 40 years. Coal won't work because of the energy required to liquify it. Hydrogen is a joke. Biofuels are a joke. And don't give me that crap about Oil Sands in Canada or Oil Shale in the American West. These fuels are extremely financially and energetically intensive to extract, and there's not nearly enough to supply the world's demand for very long.

Answer 1

You're right, but it's actually much much worse than you say--the real problem with running out of oil isn't energy, it's plastic. Synthetic, oil-based compounds are absoutely critical for countless industries, from automotive to bio-technology. Some of these are completely irreplaceable--especially in the bio-tech field, you can't just use rubber or metal for a plastic part that is designed to go inside a person's body.

Answer 2

Well i think there are 2 answers to this question.

The first is that some people are trying to talk about it. All of the alternatives you offer are out there mostly because at one point someone thought it might be a possibility to replace oil. The number of people talking is growing all the time with (now) even some college courses dedicated to addressing this problem. As an example Miami of Ohio offers a course dedicated almost solely to energy problems such as these.

The second and more unfortunate answer is an economic one. No one is dealing with peak oil yet because as yet it isn't cost efficient to do so. The processes you mention could all potentially be solutions with MUCH improved technology, but the major energy corporations are unwilling to invest in this technology because oil is just so profitable. The only hope (at least as far as this logic is concerned) is that once we hit peak oil, then oil prices rise and it becomes less cost efficient to avoid investing in alternative energy sources. Once it becomes cost competitive to invest in non oil energy sources the same economic logic which has led to our oil glut could also become the solution.

Answer 3

U are 100% wrong.U don't understand where our original fossil fuels came from do u . That bad CO2 is the start of the Recycle of our air and the removal of CO2 from our air. The plant absorbs the CO2 and it keeps the C and give us back the O2 . Now look at the other side of the cycle on the C side. The C accelerates the plants growth and the plants get large and then winter comes along . The leafs fall off and wash down the rivers to the delta where they will decompose to form Gas ,Oil ,and Coal . The only problem is where Mother nature hid it this time. We will never run out of fossil fuels . Mother has a built in recycle system .

Answer 4

I guess it's not WELL known, 'cause they have been saying those things for so long. And if your're saying 40 years into the future, I think in that time we will have alternative sources, like water for fuel.
Answer me this, riddler. How is it that I have found the most amazing technology probably in human history and people just come on my site to look around? It takes just a wee bit of effort, nothing special. Maybe if I made it into a video game. I mean when does adolescence end in America anyway?

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Emotionalintell/

I am available to help anyone get it, even if I have to knock it into their little heads. It's real simple you just have to do it. It takes a while to notice the difference, but it is like a seed, it grows and grows. I just want to dump the tech so I can do something else. How would you feel if you invented a way for cars to run on pollution in the air and no one paid you any attention. Mucho baddo. Pedophiles get more attention for heaven sakes. What a crazy world.
Hey, that makes me think, one thing people could actually do too is just reverse their thinking. Everything you think, think the opposite. See how that would work? We could think ourselves out of this mess we are so proud of. One guy, an aquaintance of a very good friend did that to think his way out of a mental hospital. See any comparison. Where do you think I think I am when I go on chat rooms. I could think of another word for them. I went on the other night and I was so depressed, I felt like I wanted to give up on the whole human race, if the US is the best minds in the world. I would say that we are losing the war for men's minds. They're losing theirs before we get started. To seriously ask why we don't do anything is funny. It's called impotence. Haven't you seen all the ads? Ideological war. No one has lifted a weapon. Too busy "getting to know you.'' Don't you need an idea in an idealogical war? Does any citizen have one, don't even mention the leaders, they are way out of the race. A side benefit from this technology is actually having more fun as an adult than as a child. Used to be there were some rewards for growing up.
Oh, well. It's strictly voluntary.

Answer 5

Many fundamentalists don't plan on being here much longer, that's the scary thing. They are not concerned because they believe Jesus is going to come and take them to paradise. Our neighbors who voted the fundamentalists into power because they are scared of "terror" can not think long term anyway so the two go hand in hand. This is why the media is not going on about it. People care about the environment and natural resources but they don't like to hear about it because the only solution is to change their own behavior. Someone will have to take action on those that keep polluting the atmosphere. Can you imagine if Canada just kept dumping trash over the border into the US?
I agree with an earlier write that petroleum needs to be reserved for plastics, but then think about how we waste that. People actually by 1L of water in a permanent and usually recycled package made from oil. This is a travesty worse than SUVs.
Evolution has a plan (even for those who do not believe in evolution) that will solve the problem and that is a world-wide pandemic. We have been lucky so far that these have been relatively benign forms of things we've already seen but I think the world's population will see a drastic reduction before we have to resort to squeezing oil out of shale.

Answer 6

"Coal won't work because of the energy required to liquify it."

wrong. Fisher-Tropsche refining has worked since German war machine was powered on it in the 40's, China and S Africa make enourmous amonts of oil from FT processing.

"Energy like wind, solar, and hydroelectric will never meet demands."

wrong. There is enough wind on the US plains to completely power the electrical grid of the USA if fully exploited with current technology.

"Nuclear will never meet demands, as we would need 10,000 more plants in less than 40 years"

Wrong. Nuclear power presently provides the US with about 20% of our electrical needs with just over 100 stations. So 400 more nuclear stations would be enough to replace all other sources of electrical energy.

"And don't give me that crap about oil sands in Canada or Oil Shale in the American West."

Canada has more oil than Saudi Arabia and the American Rockies have about 4 times the Saudi oil fields in the form of shale. FT processes can harvest these, but if you wish to just wave your hands and give up, I guess you can continue to be wrong.

Answer 7

Actually, there is a lot of oil left and it will not run out anytime soon. The problem is global warming that comes from the CO2 produced by the combustion of oil. There is consensus among scientists on both these points. We must find alternatives to burning oil such as efficient solar and other technologies. Even then, we will still need oil, but not for fuel. We are very dependent on oil for plastics which are used in manufacturing almost everything today.

Answer 8

2 part answer.

1 People have been predicting peak oil any year now for 20 years. Don't hold your breath.

2 Some combination of all the alternate sources you dismissed, plus conservation and new sources we have not discovered yet, will take off when oil gets expensive enough.

Answer 9

we've more effective recoverable oil reserves contained in the U. S. than in Saudi Arabia. in spite of the undeniable fact that the stuff we've were given is more effective extreme priced to refine into some thing usable, yet we are on the point the position we may be able to do it and the position oil organizations see reason to. we can't run out of oil, in spite of the undeniable fact that the fee received't get any decrease regrettably.

Answer 10

it will be a bit longer than 40 years because artic ocean will be soon an open ocean where ships and boats will travel, and under artic water is a hug amount of oil

ice melting is not a bad new for some people, a few people will make millions, and billions and trillions