What will we do when there is no more oil?

Question

Some experts say we reached peak oil of world oil supply in1979. The discovery of new oil sources have been stagnant. With current oil consumption and population growth, we may start seeing severe shortages by 2015. Even if this is not completely accurate, it is true that oil is a finite and non-renewable energy source which will not last forever. Our global economy and very lives are extremely dependent on oil proliferation and consumption. We use oil for everything from flying airplanes to making plastics for medical supplies. Imagine what would happen if we ran out of oil. What can we do to prevent a world wide catastrophe due to the depletion oil?

Walk is not acceptable- it's not just about driving. It's about food supply, plastics, etc. Yes, people survived before oil, but not with such a huge population. Approximately 4 billion people will die if we ran out of oil today, would you want to be one of them. This is serious.

Wookie-
First of all if we don't start thinking about renewable energy sources, the 20-30years worth will go pretty fast. And they could be saying that just so we don't freak out. Even so, how do you know any of that oil will be shared? they could hoard it. The problem is NOT the liberal and environmental wackos. They are the ones who promote alternative energy that could be our saving grace. Drilling in the arctic will not supply enough oil to stave off an oil collapse, it will only prolong our dependency. Further environmental degradation will only make problems worse in the long run. We have to learn how to live sustainably.

thorgirls-
You are nuts. I don't care for al gore, but environmentalists, at least the ones I've met, care about the future. I don't want the UN to tax the US. What does that have to do with oil anyway? I don't know where you got that from. I also don't want world socialism, but we need to stop pretending that our actions will not come back to haunt us later.

loctus- oil comes from bio-matter- not the earths core.

Answer 1

You make an excellent point in your question; It isn't just about driving cars, it's about PLASTICS. Once the oil is gone, it is gone forever and that means no more DVDs or artificial hearts, Big Gulp cups or window screens, measuring cups, TVs.

In the 1800s, the largest use for petroleum was the refined oil used in gas streetlamps and in homes. A barrel of oil used for this was refined down from approximately 23 barrels of crude oil products. The other 22 barrels of perfectly good petroleum product (in today's world) were simply thrown away, wasted. They wasted oil extravagantly then, we're doing the same thing now, even though, unlike our forefathers, we KNOW we will eventually run out of this commodity. We know this, because we know what made oil in the first place: Dead dinosaurs and sea creatures, decomposed over millions of years and enormous subterranean pressure, to become the stuff we pump out of the ground, burn inefficiently and pump BACK into the air we breathe Frankly, when oil is gone, at least we will be able to breathe clean fresh air again (at the mouths of our caves)..

No more oil also means no more asphalt for streets, or fertilizer for our food. Growing and harvesting (not to mention storing) of food would now (AOG- "After Oil's Gone") have to be done locally, making it much more expensive and prone to seasonal shortages. Malnutrition and starvation will of course ensue and, for those in the world barely surviving as it is, without alternatives to the system in place now, 4 billion initial deaths is a conservative estimate.

We will revert (through necessity) to a local feudal government, assuming ANY government can exist effectively after such life-changing events (e.g., losing a heavily depended-upon resource such as petroleum). The strong will still attempt to exploit the weak for their own benefit and the ones who survive such a Brave New World will be stronger, smarter and more resourceful than we could ever even attempt to become ourselves.

The person above me talks about recycling and how would it hurt if the consumer had to pay a fifty cent deposit on a plastic bottle... I see a time when local governments are ripping up those exact same landfills (to get at no-longer-made- plastic bottles) and tearing up city streets (to extract what little oil might still remain in the asphalt). There WILL be no plastic bottles, plastic will be in such short supply, NO deposit you could offer will make them available to the general consumer.

I wish the people of the future luck, and I really can't blame them if they curse our stupid wasteful ways, but I hope I'm dead and buried before it gets to the point where people are forced at gunpoint to turn in their automobiles.

Answer 2

As much as I dread it, the loss of "cheap" foreign oil will be one of the best things that ever happened to America.

We can shut down our foreign military bases, stay out of foreign wars, and stop propping up corrupt governments in Southwest Asia.

When cars become too expensive to run people will start moving back into the cities where proximity and mass transit will make transportation more efficient. This will stop the sprawl that is destroying so much of our farm lands and forests.

Locally produced goods will become cheaper than imports. There's no advantage to paying some coolie 12 cents an hour to assemble Nikes if it's going to cost $12 dollars to ship them. It will put a nail in the coffin of globalization. This will be good for the average working American, for a change.

Once the big oil companies can no longer stifle the development of alternative energy sources and infrastructure maybe we will see a resurgence of American entrepreneurship. After all, this always was our strong point.

Ford is losing its shirt trying to sell cars; what if it switched over to making wind turbines instead? The technology is pretty much the same and they already have the factories, machinery, and trained labor.

Recycling will become economically viable. People will think twice about throwing that plastic bottle in the trash if it cost them a quarter or fifty cents each time. Less trash means fewer landfills and less pollution.

In the short run, it will hurt like heck, but in the long run, we'll all be a lot better off for it. Sort of like major heart surgery.

Answer 3

First off there are huge fields in the Gulf of Mexico that U.S. companies are forbidden to tap while South American companies are exploiting. There are other scientists that believe that new oil is generated from the core. The old sky is falling thing is getting awfully thin. Since the 1970's we were supposed to be on the brink of oil supplies and each year more is found. While it may not be infinite a reliable alternative is not available nor will it be with as many restrictions as are now in place. If you want an alternative you must allow a dirtier first form while the demand is built. Without this intermediary the cost of emplacement is to high to allow it to support itself.

Answer 4

You are correct, and the problem, as I see it, is the big oil companies, and the other powers that be, don't seem to be willing to explore and develop alternative fuel sources, due primarily to greed, and if they do allow it at some point, you can be sure that they will make sure that they are able to monopolize the production of the alternatives just as they are doing with oil now!!!!

Answer 5

There is alternative techniques that can replace the need of oil . But its also a political climate that stop that technology to be dominant due to oil company reluctance to let it come into the market.

Answer 6

The US has more coal that their is oil in the world, we need to figure out a way to use it in an ecologically safe manner...

I think they already know how to do this..but big oil has probably bought the pattens to utilize it...( just like w/electric and solar cars)

Answer 7

Actually oil is renewable to a degree.
But there are other energy sources also.
But with new sources being found here and there, coal-oil, tar sands, shale oil... and limited renewablility....If people were determined to stick with oil we could stretch it out with those sources for easily another 150 years.
I would like to see some sensible alternitives.

I dont get why people thumbs down facts.

Answer 8

Necessity is the mother of invention. Humans survived before oil, they will survive after. The US alone has enough oil reserves to COMPLETELY supple the US oil consumption needs for the next 20-30 years, and that is just the oil we know about right now. The problem is the liberal and environmental wackos that have made it impossible to improve our oil production whether we are talking drilling for oil itself or refining it.

Answer 9

Harness the power of the homeless. Like Cramer did on Seinfeld. Hire the homeless to pull Rick Shaws everywhere.

Answer 10

The market drives technology and as we are already seeing (minus the Al GWhore crowd) inventions and paths are starting to look at the other possble methods of making things. That is one great reason to laugh at the Green Nutz Common sense and the Mrket will get us there without desroying the world economy like Al and His minions require. Al GWhore and his ilk are NOT interested in reducing Global Climate problems they want World Socialism and the UN to be able to TAX Americans Plan and Simple.