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Peak Oil
- Thread starter tonybelding
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- Energy Environment Policy
rolosrevenge
Dr. EVS
Seems like while the world's attention is on Japan, several Gulf states have sent in troops to quash the uprising in Bahrain. The spike in oil prices this would cause has been masked with the drop off in demand from Japan.
BBC News - Gulf states send forces to Bahrain following protests
BBC News - Gulf states send forces to Bahrain following protests
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W.Petefish
Active Member
Actually if you ask a Geologist, the peak is still on the horizon.
As the demand for oil increases the price goes up. Simple economics.
When the price goes up high enough it becomes cost-effective to drill and produce areas in which would normally be passed over for cheaper locations. The peak occurs when the demand for oil exceeds peak production and then stays there. Dr. Gregory gave an excellent lecture on peak oil in the class The Scientific Method: Debunking Psuedo Science Through Critical Thinking. Here is a page on Peak oil from that class. (That class, by the way, was a blast to take.)
As the demand for oil increases the price goes up. Simple economics.
When the price goes up high enough it becomes cost-effective to drill and produce areas in which would normally be passed over for cheaper locations. The peak occurs when the demand for oil exceeds peak production and then stays there. Dr. Gregory gave an excellent lecture on peak oil in the class The Scientific Method: Debunking Psuedo Science Through Critical Thinking. Here is a page on Peak oil from that class. (That class, by the way, was a blast to take.)
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W.Petefish
Active Member
dhrivnak
Active Member
One concern I have from an environmental viewpoint is that "peak oil" may be quite a few years away as the very dirty Canadian tar sands and US oil shale become attractive at $100/barrel. We have very large reserves of this stuff.
rolosrevenge
Dr. EVS
I don't think things would be nearly so bad. The transport of freight can be more efficiently accomplished by electric trains. We have more than enough coal and nuclear to do that for hundreds of years. The main reason we don't is due to subsidies to trucking companies. As for agriculture, fertilizer can be distilled out of the atmosphere with enough electricity. They are currently building a plant to do so in Eastern Washington which will produce mainly when the wind is blowing to use the unneeded power. Tractors can be electrified and may actually be much more efficient due to the higher low speed torque. The big thing that will hurt is air transport, but with high speed electric trains, much of the flights that are 300 mi and under would be eliminated anyways so there is a big savings there. There would be a problem if we ran out of energy sources, but we still have access to vast energy resources. So the most convenient energy for yesterday's technology is running out. What a great impetus to move on to better and more efficient ways to do things.
Unfortunately the world is responding too slowly to the very real and imminent threat of peak oil and surging demand from China and India. I suspect that those "dirty" sources are going to be the only thing that saves our butts. We are so dependent on fossil fuels right now that a major shortage would be a calamity. I'm not just talking about the economy, I'm talking about people starving.
Steph
Member
My opinion, we peaked about 15 years ago. Just before the succession of bubbles around the world.
Not a coincidence.
Not a coincidence.
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