when the world runs out of Oil will gobel warming slow down dramatically?

Question

Isn’t oil a major resource that is used in many things that cause global warming? And if we stopped using oil of if it just ran out how big of an impact would this actually have on global warming also how long does the oil have left in it before it runs out anyway

Answer 1

Sadly no. Trevor has a lot of good stuff in his answer. Let me add to it.

Keep in mind that global warming is based on long term changes to the atmosphere caused by gases released from various processes such as combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. These changes have happened faster in recent years than they have ever before in the history of the planet and on a wider scale.

It's not just the use of oil, electricity that people use or waste is a huge contributor as most of it comes from either natural gas or coal.

A lot depends on what people switch to and how much they continue to use or waste.

However, many other sources exist, some of which will get worse depending on what changes are made as oil gets scarcer. Even burning wood and things like leaves and paper makes greenhouse gases, mostly CO2.

Then there is methane which comes from wetlands and flatulence, often referred to as the deadly effects of cow farts. :-)

Seriously, the more mammals there are, especially ruminants the more greenhouse effect causing methane is released, and methane is roughly 24 times worse as a greenhouse gas than CO2.

The big problem is that the changes to the atmosphere are happening faster than the natural processes can absorb them and in fact we may be reaching a point where the extra average warmth will actually cause a lot more to be released such as methane that is frozen into the permafrost in the arctic.

On top of this the sun is adding to it a little bit, and they don't know how long that will last, though it is less than a 10th of what can be measured due to the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, but that is 10% more that we don't need right now.

The natural processes that regulate such wild swings on the planet normally take thousands of years to fix them and we simply don't have that kind of time to wait. Times in the past when it has gotten out of hand have seen conditions as extreme as equatorial swamp conditions clear into Canada or ice thousands of feet thick covering the entire planet.

The biggest problem is that we still do not know enough about how all to the natural and chemical process work together to tell exactly how far a given change will push things and what all the effects will be.

So realisticly speaking the entire greenhouse gas issue is one of taking huge gambles with what it will do to conditions for all life on the planet and we just don't know enough to make carefully considered decisions or fix things quickly.

That being said, anything that helps cut down on the rate of change and pushes the trend back towards a more normal set of atmospheric conditions is in all our best interests.

One of the best things that anyone can do is to just not consume as much energy. Don't drive more than you need to and don't buy a lot of stuff you don't need as every item you purchase uses energy to make and to ship it to the stores or to you, and you save money in the process.

If you want more info, just look at my other recent answers to environmental questions.

I hope this helps because every person who understands the situation better helps us all in the long run and I want my children and grand children to have a chance to have a world as beautiful as the one so many of us take for granted now.

Answer 2

Current estimates are that we can continue current production for the next 60 years. After that the harder to reach resources (shale and oil sands) should be able to continue for another 30-50 years depending on how good we get at extracting those resources. One issue though, this assumes that we will be doing everything the same way as we are today as far as usage. 100 years ago, I'm sure if anyone had projected the population we have today, we would have people on the street corners proclaiming that we were heading for a hay shortage and we were all going to be neck deep in horse hockey. Back then we had horse power (literally) and steam power (coal). In 50 years we could be using 10 % of the oil we are currently using. We will have better technology and hopefully better power sources (fusion technology, Solar, Fuel cells).

Answer 3

The burning of all fossil fuels (gas, coal and oil) contributes 23% of global warming - I don't know the component amounts but I guess oil is probably responsible for about 15% of all global warming. If we stopped using it or it ran out then a 15% decrease in global warming would only slow things down, a reduction of about 60% in emissions is needed to restore things to normal.

As for how long before it runs out - based on current known reserves then about 30 years. Back in the 1970's there were 30 years of known reserves and if we hadn't found more oil it would be running out about now. Discoveries of new oil fileds are fewer and further between than they used to be but new ones are still being discovered. As a rough estimate (and this is only my thinking, not based on fact or anything) then maybe 50 to 60 years.

Answer 4

Nope, and the oil won't just run out. It just gets harder and harder to obtain in good quality and quantity and takes more energy to get it so the price goes up.

That is why things like oil shale and oil sands are being looked at that people would have just ignored 30 years ago.

It could still take 20 or more years before there is no oil but I don't think you want to pay $10 a gallon.

Answer 5

This is definitely a crucial contributor to the global environmental and political climates. In a few years, however, (before the oil reserves are depleted) the earths poles will have melted enough to reach a temperature that acts like a self-perpetuating mechanism, causing more ice to melt, thus depleting the temperature which melts more ice, etc. which will be impossible to stop. We have to act before economy makes us.

Answer 6

Running out of oil would cause us to use more coal, and coal is almost pure carbon, while oil is part carbon and part hydrogen. So if we produced he same amount of power, but with coal instead of oil, global warming would get worse.

Answer 7

There are huge deposits of oil remaining underground and they will last many many years, at which point it would be way too late.
Yes! Oil is used in a huge amount of products and we must find other ways to develop these same, or simular, products with using oil.

Answer 8

NO global warming is natural occurrence. Stop listening to Ms Al Gore and other nuts like him. They will ruin the world economy. In the 70's it was cooling

Answer 9

no the effects arent immediate so even if we stopped burning oil things would still get worse before trhey got better

Answer 10

How did we get out of the last Ice Age? It wasn't Garg the Hunter driving around in his Escalade. It was the sun.

Since the warming and cooling cycle results from solar activity, I would say no.