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Old 02-03-2012, 07:52 PM
 
20,622 posts, read 19,268,379 times
Reputation: 8224

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chango View Post
Even more than difficult... it's impossible with current technology. As long as electric cars can only go a 100 miles and take 8 hours to charge they will be nothing more than toys.

It can only happen with a serious game-changer that will be just as revolutionary as the invention of steam power.

And here it is:


The Wonders of Nanotechnology - YouTube

This is only the tip of the iceberg, BTW. Nanotechnology is the world-shaking paradigm shift that will make it possible to completely replace fossil fuels as an energy source. It will lead to efficient solar power collection and grid-less energy distribution (probably eventually beamed to earth from space where solar panels can be collecting solar energy 24/7 with no interruptions), real-life superconductors, efficient and instantly chargeable long-life batteries, an entirely reinvented medical care system and new, interesting ways of killing each other.

The future will be exciting and scary, but the point is that we really do have a future. Peak oil is not the end, not by a long shot.
Thank you for that. This is what we need to be working on.It would be nice to get life off this rock too someday. I think its humanities duty to see this through. We are the only ones who can.
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Old 02-03-2012, 08:01 PM
 
20,622 posts, read 19,268,379 times
Reputation: 8224
Quote:
Originally Posted by archineer View Post
The paper was published on the energy bulletin website about a year ago. I'll have a look. The paper didn't take into account breeder reactor technology though.

I understood that thorium was good for using up some of the dirty leftovers too.

I have not seen it yet but this looks interesting.


The Thorium Molten-Salt Reactor: Why Didn't This Happen (and why is now the right time?) - YouTube!
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Old 02-03-2012, 08:10 PM
 
Location: Sinking in the Great Salt Lake
13,139 posts, read 22,746,174 times
Reputation: 14116
Quote:
Originally Posted by archineer View Post
You know shell state that optimistically the tar sands production will reach 5 million barrells per day by 2035?
It's not the only future source of oil, and if we aren't burning it as fuel anymore, a smaller oil supply is not such a big problem. Also many petroleum products are recyclable, making them go even further.
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Old 02-03-2012, 08:51 PM
 
4,019 posts, read 3,938,202 times
Reputation: 2938
Here's a recent audio interview with the editor of The Oil Drum. Pretty interesting.


» KunstlerCast #192: Arthur E. Berman, Petroleum Geologist The KunstlerCast


James Howard Kunstler speaks by phone with Arthur E. Berman, who is a petroleum geologist and consultant to the energy sector; editorial board member of The Oil Drum; associate editor of the AAPG Bulletin; director of The Association for the Study of Peak Oil. Berman has published more than 100 articles on petroleum geology and technology and has made more than 50 presentations in the last year to professional societies, investment conferences and companies. He speaks to Jim tonight about the history of shale gas “fracking†and a lot of the “magical thinking†surrounding the prospects of America becoming “energy dependent†through fracking.
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Old 02-03-2012, 09:03 PM
 
Location: London, U.K.
3,006 posts, read 3,860,906 times
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The person who really scares me is Robert Hirsch, simply because he himself is clearly scared, though he does his best to hide it.
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Old 02-04-2012, 09:38 AM
 
20,622 posts, read 19,268,379 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by archineer View Post
Wrong. Gold is going higher because the world economy can no longer grow due to peak oil meaning fiat currencies are toast.


You act as though we didn't have a housing bubble on a national scale which underpins our credit system. I ran a small business and had many small business owners as customers and many of them used home equity as a source of financing. This means the credit issuance of our financial system is badly damaged. The current crisis has caused a currency war globally weakening all currencies against assets not traditionally owned with consumer financing like gold and oil. The other lack of confidence in the currency is from the massive build up of reserves which is meaningless in reality, but causes irrational fear nonetheless.


To claim that the current crisis is a sign of peak oil is hopelessly wrong. Its fiance and the real estate bubble. If we reach peak oil, then we will have a new crisis, but it has nothing to do with this one. Bank credit grew double the national debt in 7 years time in the housing bubble. That means in just three and a half years they created as much debt as the entire history of the federal budget from the time they were wearing powdered wigs until now, not just once, twice until it fell apart in 2008.

Not a peak oil crisis. Not yet. People don't buy gold when they run out of oil. They try to buy oil or a replacement for oil.
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Old 02-06-2012, 08:00 AM
 
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
8,307 posts, read 38,705,895 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike from back east View Post
People are beginning to see that Peak Oil was just a theory that has been constantly proven wrong by one mammoth discovery after another over the many years since Peak Oil was written.

Currently, the world is essentially awash in both oil and natural gas, especially as we frack the hell out of every shale play in the nation.

Per a recent piece in the WSJ, we, as a nation, now export more petroleum products than we import.

High prices are a result an election year; oil barons jack up the price every 4 years so they can send unlimited money to super PACs.
Here's an interesting tidbit...

The Saudis have been funding all of their social programs with oil revenues for quite some time and, more recently, have jacked their welfare handouts up to unprecedented levels in an apparent effort to placate the proletariat and steel their ranks against the tide of Arab uprising in the middle east. Some insiders believe that the Saudi oil industry is so burdened by social programs that their break even price may be as high as $100/bbl.

If the most influential member of OPEC needs $100/bbl, well...
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Old 02-06-2012, 08:05 AM
 
Location: Londonderry, NH
41,478 posts, read 59,623,251 times
Reputation: 24860
Just a maneuver by the oil industry to set even higher prices over the summer to reap as much profit as possible before somebody breaks up their monopoly. The oil industry is an example of a great business and very poor economics.
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Old 02-06-2012, 08:08 AM
 
29,409 posts, read 21,951,368 times
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Folks are conditioned now that 3.00 gas is good but if it goes up more they beech. Soon that bar will be moved up to 3.50 as the beechable range. Just have to condition the masses to accept it first.
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Old 02-06-2012, 08:18 AM
 
6,326 posts, read 6,559,973 times
Reputation: 7457
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoCalCroozer View Post
Peak Oil is pure and utter garbage.
Yup, that's why they frack North Dakota, drill ocean floor and bake Canadian oil sands instead of drilling a 50ft long pipe into Ohio swamp lands to get fountains of oil and gas effortlessly.
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