If oil is running out, why don't we find something else that will last longer?

Question

I heard that coal will last for a couple of centuries.

Answer 1

i think we should move away from fossil fuels entirely. they are dirty and unsightly. they are an old technology and we are capable of much more. i personally support renewable sources, they are not as difficult to use as Big Oil & Gas wants us to think...they even save money in the long run

so, i agree with your premise but not your suggestion

Answer 2

we do have technology (and did have it for a while now) that will work once oil is gone, but unfortunately, the oil companies own the patents. One such example is that in the 1970s a man who worked for NASA made a completely electric car that could get 50mph and ride for a few hours on one charge. Oil company paid him a couple million, and that technology was stopped. If we had that far advanced technology in the 1970s, imagine where it could be today if scientists kept working on it.
There also is not a high demand for other types of energy, but there are things such as biofuel- which is basically corn and vegetable oil. I know a guy who runs a huge semi with only corn oil from his own fields- saves him a ton of money in gas.

As for oil the current estimate is only about 25-45 more years. We moved away from using a majority of coal in the early 1900s because it was so bad for the environment/ air pollution, etc.

And for the comment of "mother nature making fossil fuels and recycling them for millions of years"....that is correct. but he is not reading his own sentance. MILLIONS of years. We don't have the luxury of waiting for another mass extinction to fossilize and create more coal and oil.

Answer 3

Wrong Mother nature has recycled our air and fossil fuel for millions of years. We will never run out it may Moore difficult to find it . When plants take in CO2 the plant will hold onto the C and give us back O2. Now follow the C side of the circle. The plants grow bigger due to the CO2 and then winter comes killing the leaves which fall off and wash down the rivers to the delta where it deteriorates into oil gas ,and coal. We just need to balance our use even though the technology is here to burn clean. The fuel that burns and produces the most CO2 is the more efficient.

Answer 4

We need to find renewable resources that don't have greenhouse gas emissions. Coal is not the answer.

In the short run, nuclear fission is helpful, although dangerous and expensive.

In the long run, we need to develop solar and fusion technologies.

I wonder what we could have achieved with those billions we've wasted in Iraq.

Answer 5

Why? MONEY! Energy can neither be created nor destroyed - only transformed. That transformation costs money.

Why don't we use solar power now? MONEY. It is super expensive.

Yes, there's lots of coal; it is cheap, but super-expensive to clean up.

Why don't we find something that will last longer? 'cuz it costs too much money!

Answer 6

coal has low effciency (only 30 % energy transfer efficiency , soory i can not remerbetr the numerb ), it can not provide enough energy .

Answer 7

well it is said that CIA knows already the answer but for unknown resons they occult what they found out, possible cause to suck more money out from ppl, on fosil fuel.