"End of the oil age"
Discussion
I remember reading about 'peak oil' many years ago while I was still in university and having a good laugh about it. At the time we had rapidly advancing 'alternative energy' sources and fuel cells were well on their way (anyone remember Ballard Power Systems - once valued at 20billion dollars)? Those don't seem to have come quite as far as I was hoping.
Anyhow, a decade has passed since I first read about the issue of oil going away, and now it's getting a bit more mainstream. The next wave of nuclear plants aren't due this decade but apparently the point of oil supply outstrippping demand is:
http://www.profeng.com/archive/2010Articles/March/...
That link is to a well respected engineering publication who, as best I'm aware, have no axe to grind on the subject. There's also been a group of business leaders, including some household names, campaigning on the subject. Finally, there's an article on the BBC describing oil demand in China as 'incredible' - up almost 30% in a year. Obama has now given appoval to start drilling off the coast of the US, and look at all the shouting over the Fawklands.
I hate to sound like a harbinger of doom, but I can't help thinking we're in trouble... 2015 is not a long way off, but nobody seems to have a plan, or even acknowledge the need for one.
Am I wrong to be worried about this?
Anyhow, a decade has passed since I first read about the issue of oil going away, and now it's getting a bit more mainstream. The next wave of nuclear plants aren't due this decade but apparently the point of oil supply outstrippping demand is:
http://www.profeng.com/archive/2010Articles/March/...
That link is to a well respected engineering publication who, as best I'm aware, have no axe to grind on the subject. There's also been a group of business leaders, including some household names, campaigning on the subject. Finally, there's an article on the BBC describing oil demand in China as 'incredible' - up almost 30% in a year. Obama has now given appoval to start drilling off the coast of the US, and look at all the shouting over the Fawklands.
I hate to sound like a harbinger of doom, but I can't help thinking we're in trouble... 2015 is not a long way off, but nobody seems to have a plan, or even acknowledge the need for one.
Am I wrong to be worried about this?
As with my usual dose of near psychotic paranoia, I think the MMuGW hysteria was a realistic global attempt at mitigating against peak oil.
Sadly, the methodology was crap.
For those of you about to say "it's bulls
t". Have a read of something called The Hirsch Report.
Odd how nothing was done about it.
Coal will be king again and thankfully, due to Maggies brilliance, we are sat on fkloads of it.....
EU coal, that is.
Sadly, the methodology was crap.
For those of you about to say "it's bulls
t". Have a read of something called The Hirsch Report. Odd how nothing was done about it.
Coal will be king again and thankfully, due to Maggies brilliance, we are sat on f
kloads of it.....EU coal, that is.
tangent police said:
As with my usual dose of near psychotic paranoia, I think the MMuGW hysteria was a realistic global attempt at mitigating against peak oil.
Sadly, the methodology was crap.
For those of you about to say "it's bullst". Have a read of something called The Hirsch Report.
Odd how nothing was done about it.
Coal will be king again and thankfully, due to Maggies brilliance, we are sat on fkloads of it.....
EU coal, that is.
Why didn't they just say that we're running out of oil? That would be somewhat more credible. They also demonise coal which should we actually get into an issue with oil supplies will be an absolutely crucial feedstock and fuel.Sadly, the methodology was crap.
For those of you about to say "it's bulls
t". Have a read of something called The Hirsch Report. Odd how nothing was done about it.
Coal will be king again and thankfully, due to Maggies brilliance, we are sat on f
kloads of it.....EU coal, that is.
Nick_F said:
Stop buying stuff made of plastic in China.
HTH.
Salvation! HTH.
Seriously though - having re-read my post it didn't come over as intended. This isn't keeping me up at nights by any means, but I was reading that article and couldn't help but think 'hmm - they may have a point'.
TheD said:
They have knew the oil was running out for a while but to afraid to admit it in case people started wanting Nuclear and Coal reinvested in, and climate change got told to feck off.
Yeah, right, that was it.You sure it's not because the world would probably go into a complete panic?
Look at how idiotic people get when they feel they may struggle to fill up their cars. The slightest whiff there might be a fuel shortage and they're off, panic buying, brimming their tanks and filling up a ton of jerry cans, storing them in milk bottles in their shed and what not. Now imagine, that instead of simply a fuel shortage (ie, the tanker might not reach your petrol station this week) the Oil Co's announced to the world "We're running out of oil". There'd be mass hysteria, not to mention there'd probably be all out war on those countries that still have supplies.
When Oil does actually start to run out we most likely won't know about it until we're all in deep s
t.tangent police said:
As with my usual dose of near psychotic paranoia, I think the MMuGW hysteria was a realistic global attempt at mitigating against peak oil.
Sadly, the methodology was crap.
For those of you about to say "it's bullst". Have a read of something called The Hirsch Report.
Odd how nothing was done about it.
Coal will be king again and thankfully, due to Maggies brilliance, we are sat on fkloads of it.....
EU coal, that is.
Afraid not, according to this we have less than 0.1% of known world reserves (less than Thailand and N Korea)Sadly, the methodology was crap.
For those of you about to say "it's bulls
t". Have a read of something called The Hirsch Report. Odd how nothing was done about it.
Coal will be king again and thankfully, due to Maggies brilliance, we are sat on f
kloads of it.....EU coal, that is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_reserves#World_c...
Charlie Boy said:
Google deep earth oil there seems to be plenty of oil available and its being produced all the time. The Russians get most of their oil and gas from deep wells in rocks that have never seen a dead fish, forests or dinosaurs!
Was looking into this a while back and some respectable scientists are beginning to come on board lately.Also read an article that the yanks are test drilling deeeper wells.
Also some oil wells are refilling especially in the Gulf of Mexico just so happens to be one of the most fractured areas of the earths crust allowing oil to seep up from where it is created! They have done tests on deep earth oil that shows it has been created by in organic means. Bacteria starts to eat the oil at higher depths giving the false impression in the past that it is of organic origin and there fore in limited supply a nice little theory invented to keep prices high on the knowledge it might run out.
Charlie Boy said:
Also some oil wells are refilling especially in the Gulf of Mexico just so happens to be one of the most fractured areas of the earths crust allowing oil to seep up from where it is created! They have done tests on deep earth oil that shows it has been created by in organic means. Bacteria starts to eat the oil at higher depths giving the false impression in the past that it is of organic origin and there fore in limited supply a nice little theory invented to keep prices high on the knowledge it might run out.
Did I miss the the part where it was announced to the world that Oil was self-replenishing? I knew there were theories but I didn't know it had been confirmed. Is the science settled, you know, like Climate Change science is settled?Stalin ordered after WW2 that with Russia only having one source of oil that they should search for alternative sources hence the deep earth wells. These seem to be located around highly fractured areas of the earths crust and impact craters hence the Gulf of Mexico being the site of one of the largest impacts on earth. The Swedes tried drilling around and impact crater back I think the late 70's early 80's but found little oil, it seems like the Russians are some what more successful at it.
Oakey said:
Charlie Boy said:
Also some oil wells are refilling especially in the Gulf of Mexico just so happens to be one of the most fractured areas of the earths crust allowing oil to seep up from where it is created! They have done tests on deep earth oil that shows it has been created by in organic means. Bacteria starts to eat the oil at higher depths giving the false impression in the past that it is of organic origin and there fore in limited supply a nice little theory invented to keep prices high on the knowledge it might run out.
Did I miss the the part where it was announced to the world that Oil was self-replenishing? I knew there were theories but I didn't know it had been confirmed. Is the science settled, you know, like Climate Change science is settled?Ps I am no expert just got bored one afternoon at work
I am all for alternative energy without a leftist agenda attached. That said, there are inmumerable producing wells all over the US that are capped for future use. I live in an oil industry state and have access to those in the know at many levels. The idea that we are all about to run out of oil is utter cr@p
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