How long before we advance out of the need for oil?

Question

We have only had a need for what about 150 years.
With all of the world fighting for control ....why don't we just "eliminate" the need for it through technology and alternate energies.

Answer 1

This is absolutely the main issue facing the US and the West. Fossil fuels are the past and we cannot expect to build a future on them.

But the oil boys have controlled this nation for a long time and they will always put their short term wealth ahead of every other national and global concern.

A good friend of mine has been working at GM in the hyrdrogen fuel project since the early '90's. Just how long should it reasonably take for us to get there??

Naturally, I think we are already there...but until the oil boys find a way to make the money and control the technology...well until then...we will just have to wait.

Answer 2

There may always be a need for oil of some kind, as a lubricant anyway. Oil for fuel is another matter, of course.
http://www.nanosolar.com/index.html
http://www.teslamotors.com/
These links possibly foretell the future.
Nanosolar is on the leading edge of affordable Solar Electric, which can power your house and your car.
Tesla Motors is developing an all-electric car that can run 250 miles on a charge.
There is in development a capacitor system that can charge a car in 15 seconds, which will then power a car for 40 miles or so.
Energy independence is not just for America, but the whole world.
Contact your representative(s) in congress and urge them to take a closer look into this technology and possibly provide incentives to further development.
Good question, thank you.

Answer 3

After global warming has runs its course, and all the ice melts and floods the earth with an excess of 20-to-200 feet of artic ice, and the stench of a nuclear doomsday cloud has come and gone and burned out of the atmosphere, and religion becomes a footnote in the history books about the far distant and horrific fundamentalist past, and when a new generation of human specie walks the earth looking for food and shelter, then and only then will we be free from an addiction to oil. or maybe sooner than that.

Answer 4

For the most part, this could have been done years ago. Imagine yourself inventing an inexpensive converter that would change tap water to combustion fuel. Without a doubt it works. You are so happy. You are going to save the world and be wealthy at the same time. You announce that you are going to market the product. You would most likely be dead in a matter of days. All reference to your invention gone with the wind.
It would be the same if you found out eating rose peddles would cure cancer. They would not even send roses to your funeral.
Suppression is alive and well. Come to think of it. Roses would be declared a threat to national security.
Don't screw around with the BIG BOYS pocket book. It can be hazardous to your health.

Answer 5

I think because the oil companies don't allow us to have the access to alternatives. We have the knowledge do get along without oil, but not the means. I myself would love to see this happen but it's way to expensive for the common person to set up a windpower or solar type of source.

Answer 6

Well then, stop pissing around on your computer(made with plastics which are derived from oil) and get at figuring out how. Then figure out how to get past the people with the money to stop you(oil companies) with quad-zillions of dollars to back them up....plus the automanufacturers who are under the thumb of the oil companies, but have an interst in selling things that use oil(cars), plus a government that gets voted in by these blue collar workers who would be out of a job, and so on.

Answer 7

Alternative Fuels & Energy will be so much more expensive than oil, that they will all fail.

Alternative Energy is nothing but a Public Relations Trick. It's a Political Hoax.

Answer 8

You mean just snap our fingers and wish it away?

Tell you what, ask your parents why they're not using solar panels to reduce their electric bills and you'll get a quick idea as to why the transition to non-petroleum sources of energy will be taking place over many decades.

It will be 2050 before oil is a non-issue.

Answer 9

ALL I CAN HOPE IS THAT UR WORDS BECOME TRUE SOONER THAN LATE...Or else after a few centuries Oil would be there but humans wont...

Answer 10

we dont have a "need" for oil in reality ... its completely driven by economics and profits ... but there is an answer and its completely dooable ... u should check this out if u havent already .
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-570288889128950913&q=biofuels&hl=en

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