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I rented this movie from Netflix recently. A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash, this movie is pretty scary in the sense that it shows how dependent we are as nation on crude oil. From transportation down to basic products we use everyday. This documentary talks about how our whole economy and our way of life is so dependent on oil. It also talks about how they estimate in the next 30 to 50 yrs we'll be out of oil.
Interesting stuff, Netflix has a preview if you go to their site and pull it up.
People don't want to know, is my take. I hear on Rush that there's an infinite supply of oil, and some capitalist-Christians say God will "up" the supply as long as we profess our undying love for him, officially, in our government.
I'm not so afraid of when the world runs out of crude as I am of when the Middle East just decides they don't want to sell it to us any longer.
Excellent post. I agree. I don't want to go off on a tangent, but back during golf war 1 when Saddam invaded Kuwait. I often wondered if Kuwait exported bananas if we would have went to their rescue and liberated them.
Here's the trouble with any of these estimates.... they don't have any accurate data to make them. The health of the worlds major oil fields is the key and those are controlled by a few state owned companies and they do not release such information. It's a closely guarded state secret...
Having said that "Peak Oil" doesn't mean the world will never run out of oil, what it will run out of is oil that can be used for an energy source. The basic principal of peak oil is that it takes just as much energy to get it out of the ground that you are producing. As the major oil fields hit their peak they will only be suitable for extraction of oil for other uses or will have to wait around until the technology makes it feasible again.. Many of the oil fields in Texas for example that peaked in the 70's are now viable resources because of improved technology.
Is it something to be concerned about? Certainly but I wouldn't get to carried away with it as we're not going to go off a cliff as most would suggest. Oil prices will steadily rise over the next few decades and when the market can no longer bare the costs alternatives will be found and utilized.
Ya this is all well and good until India gets a hold of their new mass produced car. I wonder how our estimates will look with an extra half billion cars needing some oil. My only comfort is that if I am aware of peak oil, that means plenty of others are aware. And therefore there are some smart people currently working on viable alternatives.
Here's the trouble with any of these estimates.... they don't have any accurate data to make them. The health of the worlds major oil fields is the key and those are controlled by a few state owned companies and they do not release such information. It's a closely guarded state secret...
Having said that "Peak Oil" doesn't mean the world will never run out of oil, what it will run out of is oil that can be used for an energy source. The basic principal of peak oil is that it takes just as much energy to get it out of the ground that you are producing. As the major oil fields hit their peak they will only be suitable for extraction of oil for other uses or will have to wait around until the technology makes it feasible again.. Many of the oil fields in Texas for example that peaked in the 70's are now viable resources because of improved technology.
Is it something to be concerned about? Certainly but I wouldn't get to carried away with it as we're not going to go off a cliff as most would suggest. Oil prices will steadily rise over the next few decades and when the market can no longer bare the costs alternatives will be found and utilized.
Oh come-on man i've already tried to explain those production profiles are ludicrous. Peak will occur by early 2012- no later. To get an accurate picture just compare the planned production coming on stream over the next 7 years, and offset that with the existing production decline rates.
And BTW i'm glad you've finally taken EROEI into consideration.
Last edited by archineer; 04-02-2009 at 10:12 AM..
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