Is the end finally nigh?

[MattC]

The other day my girlfriend was laughing at a spikedhumor video in which Bush said something to the effect of: We need to end our addiction to fossil fuels ... the answer is coal!

This morning I woke up and saw an article on fox (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,193624,00.html), of all places, talking about how peak oil may have just recently hit or, or that it may, if we're lucky, hit in around 20 years - though fox also cites estimates that we would need to prepare 20 years in advance to avoid consequences!

 

I was being a little tongue-in-cheek when I implied that the end is nigh. Still, things are coming to a head, in my humble opinion, when fox decides to start cashing in on the peak oil scare, rather than just post junk science articles pointing to tenuous evidence that peak oil is a myth.

 

So, while we're on the topic (and yes, I know it's been visited before, but not often enough), is anyone else out there contemplating preparations (aside from peakoilman ... who we all know is already ready!)? Myself, I am planning on moving in a few months, once I have my degree (BS in ENSC), to somewhere that I can commute around on a bike. I want to sell my car, since it doesn't really enrich my life (and I can take a rental if needed, for trips) anyway, and as it won't be worth much once oil prices begin the big (permanent, presumably) price climb that I see coming soon (between now and, say, 15 years... ). My brother plans on moving as well, once he gets his phd, to somewhere where he can have a little land. Just in case things get bad.

Which they probably will - granted, it's all speculation at this point, but history has taken humans for rougher rides in the past than peak-oil alarmists foretell.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to post this little (half-serious) peak oil post, in the hopes of getting some more interesting perspectives. So post away!

[insane_alien]

you have the ) bracket in the link. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,193624,00.html <- proper link.

[bascule]

I liked Reason's take on Peak Oil:

 

http://www.reason.com/0605/fe.rb.peak.shtml

 

The good news is that the peak oil doomsters are probably wrong that world oil production is about to decline forever. Most analysts believe that world petroleum supplies will meet projected demand at reasonable prices for at least another generation. The bad news is that much of the world’s oil reserves are in the custody of unstable and sometimes hostile regimes. But the oil producing nations would be the ultimate losers if they provoked an “oil crisis,” since that would spur industrialized countries to cut back on imports and develop alternative energy technologies.

[YT2095]

So, while we're on the topic (and yes, I know it's been visited before, but not often enough), is anyone else out there contemplating preparations

 

yes certainly and I have been long before I even knew what this "peak oil" thingy was all about.

basicly I just like getting Energy for "Free", and so I work on this as one of my Many hobbies, not for any Doom-N-Gloom prospect, but just because it`s Fun

small "People powered" generators, Photo Voltaic cells, Ordinary generaors that will run on "crap" heaters that will run on "Crap" etc...

it`s just Nice to get something for "Nothing"

[Prime-Evil]

Hiking and camping is a good way to get to know how little you need to live on. I think people should go camping at least once each season. Another good way to prepare is to simply shut your own power off for a week at least once each season and not do any shopping that same week.

 

The best revenge, or preparation, is living well.

[sabbath]

I would agree to Bascule's post.

 

I live in the 3rd country in the world which is most affected by the increase in oil.

 

Seeing as I'm still off to college I have years to go, but I would include in my future plans to own land that I can learn to till on my own...or something of the sort. It sounds drastic, but I think I'll enjoy it.

 

I can't bear smoke and exhaust fumes from vehicles anyway. The regulation here on vehicular smoke isn't that high...and going to the city almost always means a puff of soot-colored toxic fumes blowing into your face. It gives me nausea and makes me want to vomit.

 

I'm aiming for stability in my financial status when I get out of college so in case the economy crashes because of the oil price increase I have other resources.

 

I'm totally for alternative energy sources. I've heard of free lance scientists in the country studying on alternative fuel sources since petroleum has made the Philippines quite dependent on foreign import. The country doesn't even have its own refineries and the petroleum companies are controlled by the conglomerate and upperclass private sector.

 

They totally control the price of petroleum products. Other goods have a tendency to increase in prices also when the world oil market price increases.

 

I think some of you must have heard of water being alternate to petroleum? There's also vegetable oil...

[Prime-Evil]

I was there once. The Phillipines rock.

[Prime-Evil]

Water/hydrogen is really more of an alternate to batteries. There is vegetable oil, but yield per acre is better with wind power. Still, biomass energy is OK as long as you are frugal and protect the soil. You could use water buffalos to convert some biomass into power, and fertilizer, and more water buffalos. Keep it real. I am more of a Shetland Pony man myself but buffalos are cool also.

 

So what sort of crops would you like to grow?

Don't forget trees. Lots and lots of trees.

[sabbath]

Yep trees and trees and lots more trees!

 

I live in the rural part of the city. It's not suburban, it's rural. The fields next to our property are farmlands...with cows and water buffaloes and chickens and pigs...the whole score. And we've got trees and trees and trees.

 

I'd like to plant fruit trees especially. Yum! Food is best served fresh.

[bascule]

So what sort of crops would you like to grow?

 

GMO algae

[SkepticLance]

Those who have read my previous posts know that I am SERIOUSLY skeptical of catastrophism. And energy resource depletion is another catastrophist notion.

 

We are not going to run out of oil for a few decades yet. And people are already working on alternatives. Hydrogen can be made by electrolysis of water, plus a number of other techniques. There are even people researching GM algae to directly make hydrogen with sunlight. Vege oils can be used as biodiesel. Methanol can be made direct from carbon dioxide and water, with enough electrical input. Ethanol from fermentation. Even, as an interim, diesel from coal.

 

Bjorn Lomborg (the Skeptical Environmentalist) quoted an oil baron who said :

"The Stone Age ended. But not because we ran out of stone. The Oil Age will end. But not because we run out of oil."

 

I agree. Society will move on, and the energy economy will use a greater variety of sources.

[DV8 2XL]

The bigger long term issue is not running out of fossil fuels to burn, but how we will deal with the effects of CO2 that using them produces. It is this problem that we will be dumping on the backs of future generations that they will be (with justification) damning us for - not for having gobbled up non-renewable resources.