Will oil resources become exhausted, causing problems?

[struggle4progress]

What should we think about peak energy?

[onebigbadwulf]

1. You need to hear Thom Heartmann talk about peak oil

it will blow your mind.

[struggle4progress]

2. In the mid-1970's, many of my friends were predicting ...

... energy problems somewhere around the turn-of-the-century, together with a US invasion of the opil fields.

But I'll try to look up TH. Thanx.

[demwing]

3. The question is not "IF?" but "WHEN?"

Crude is a non renewable energy source. It WILL run out.

[Jokinomx]

4. I truly think the shit is going to hit the fan NEXT year...

I feel the price of gas will rise to over $4.00 a gallon next year and this will be just the start of expensive fuel prices. I have been following this issue for a couple of years... there are NO answers to this dilema. We should have been preparing for the upcoming oil shortage... twenty or thirty years ago....

[Nomadics]

5. energy supply

Don't worry folks Hydrogen is here to stay.....:)

[wuushew]

6. Hydrogen is no panacea

since most plans call for obtaining it from natural gas which is experiencing a peak production problem of its'own.

[struggle4progress]

8. Hydrogen has to be produced, ...

... and thermodynamic laws guarantee you lose energy in the process. This then raises the question: what is the source of the energy to split the hydrogen?

Once produced, hydrogen must be stored. It may be possible to store it, but the technical problem is to do this in a manner that saves as many BTU/ft^3 as gasoline, for example.

I don't know if you have good info on this, but nothing I've seen yet persuades me that cries of "hydrogen! hydrogen!" have any relationship to reality.

Welcome to DU! :)

[kestrel91316]

7. Why we need $5 gas

The ONLY way Americans will do anything at all to curb petroleum consumption is if the price rises to a very uncomfortable level and stays there. We need expensive oil and gasoline to drive the development of alternatives, and we need it sooner than later. A year or two from now there will be MUCH more competition from China and India for limited resources, so we may miss the only chance we have left to change our greedy ways before change becomes impossible due to economic depression. We have to bite the bullet, drive more sensibly, car pool/use mass transit, buy hybrids, insulate the hell out of housing and businesses, install solar retrofits, and get off our lazy rears with some serious walking/biking. We all have a serious civic DUTY to do what each of us can do.

[Droopy]

9. Welcome to DU, kestrel91316

Good post. :toast:

[Feanorcurufinwe]

10. Yep. nt