anyone got Peak Oil concerns?

tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
edited August 2010 in Strut Central
anyone preparing for life after cheap oil?
anyone think its all a hoax?
will science bail us out?
will corn be used to press new vinyl?
is why the MAyan calendar ends in 2012?



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  Comments


  • cookbookcookbook 783 Posts
    tripledouble said:

    is why the MAyan calendar ends in 2012?

    im ready.

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    i'm actually optimistic that the effects of peak oil will push us another direction, global warming, however is a different matter. mass migrations are almost assured.

    tony. you back from italy? philly was pretty good to me while you were gone ;)

  • covecove 1,567 Posts
    It's not really a concern for me, and it has some interesting benefits...

    We won't be getting exotic fruits/etc from across the ocean (at least not at the price currently) because it won't be economically feasible. It'll push the "buying/growing local" movement, and i think more people will harvest their own food. Like reverse globalization, in a good way.

  • z_illaz_illa 867 Posts
    It seems like my post about the movie "Collapse" is gone.

    I highly recommend it.

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    peak oil is still a long way off.

    The real issue is what will the earth look like when we've sucked it dry and burned it all up.

  • Horseleech said:
    peak oil is still a long way off.

    The real issue is what will the earth look like when we've sucked it dry and burned it all up.

    horse...please expand on why its a long way off. im not doubting you, just interested in seeing some good proof of this.

  • Possum Tom said:
    i'm actually optimistic that the effects of peak oil will push us another direction, global warming, however is a different matter. mass migrations are almost assured.

    tony. you back from italy? philly was pretty good to me while you were gone ;)

    good like back massage or good like records?
    imback. give aholler bro.

  • z_illa said:
    It seems like my post about the movie "Collapse" is gone.

    I highly recommend it.

    i missed that. can you link it up?

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    tripledouble said:
    Possum Tom said:
    i'm actually optimistic that the effects of peak oil will push us another direction, global warming, however is a different matter. mass migrations are almost assured.

    tony. you back from italy? philly was pretty good to me while you were gone ;)

    good like back massage or good like records?
    imback. give aholler bro.
    like ... records ... dude

    cosign on "collapse" but take it with a large grain of salt.

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    "The Prize" episodes 1-7 should be required viewing for all americans:

  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
    Coal.

    Dig, baby dig!

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    tripledouble said:
    Horseleech said:
    peak oil is still a long way off.

    The real issue is what will the earth look like when we've sucked it dry and burned it all up.

    horse...please expand on why its a long way off. im not doubting you, just interested in seeing some good proof of this.

    I can't prove it in the context of this thread, but they are finding huge reserves all of the time now, but a lot of them are in deep water or in pristine environments. Some predictions say that there is as much as 5 trillion barrels left, some as little as 1.2 trillion, I personally would side with the higher estimates.

    I've been following this issue on and off since the 70's and we've already passed several dire peak oil predictions that never materialized, so I'm a bit skeptical about the tenth peak prediction. It seems that there is oil pretty much anywhere you look - it's just a matter of how deep it is and what are you willing to do to get it.

    Either way our next major energy source should be the #1 world-wide priority, because wind turbines and solar panels aren't going to cut it.

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    I watched the above movie for about 20 minutes......some of his comments were very questionable and some were just bizarre like "Steam is a form of hydrocarbon energy".

    Not sure what to think of his supposed expertise with statements like that.

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    Rockadelic said:
    I watched the above movie for about 20 minutes......some of his comments were very questionable and some were just bizarre like "Steam is a form of hydrocarbon energy".

    Not sure what to think of his supposed expertise with statements like that.

    you use carbon to heat water and create steam... this brilliant deduction courtesy of dc public schools.

  • cookbookcookbook 783 Posts
    Possum Tom said:


    cosign on "collapse" but take it with a large grain of salt.

    like rock said, there is a very viable opposing side to the theories in this film.

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    Possum Tom said:
    Rockadelic said:
    I watched the above movie for about 20 minutes......some of his comments were very questionable and some were just bizarre like "Steam is a form of hydrocarbon energy".

    Not sure what to think of his supposed expertise with statements like that.

    you CAN use carbon to heat water and create steam... this brilliant deduction courtesy of dc public schools.

    Those Nuclear Power Plants I passed in West Virginia and Kentucky last week were making plenty of steam.

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    Possum Tom said:
    Rockadelic said:
    I watched the above movie for about 20 minutes......some of his comments were very questionable and some were just bizarre like "Steam is a form of hydrocarbon energy".

    Not sure what to think of his supposed expertise with statements like that.

    you use carbon to heat water and create steam... this brilliant deduction courtesy of dc public schools.

    This does not mean that steam = hydrocarbon energy, which is a statement that actually makes no sense whatsoever.

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    you both are totally right, but anyone who speaks english can figure out what he meant by that.

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    Possum Tom said:
    you both are totally right, but anyone who speaks english can figure out what he meant by that.

    I figured out what he meant well enough to know he is wrong and that this is a misleading and bogus statement when addressing energy production in 2000.

    And I didn't even go to dc public schools.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Seems we have already passed the peak easy oil mark.

    Demand is greater than the easy oil close to the surface in places with infrastructure.

    Now we are forced to get oil from way off shore, deep water, above the arctic circle, shale, deep deep underground...

    I guess people forget, but oil prices spiked a few years ago, and only dropped slightly. So, if you are going by $ per barrel, the price has risen and is rising.
    10 or even 20 years ago oil was $20 less per barrel inflation adjusted.
    Though, 30 years ago oil was more expensive than today IA.

    I think that it is a mistake to think that one day we will have used more than half of all the oil in the world and suddenly prices will skyrocket and availability will decrease. We can meter what comes out, but only guess what is in the ground. So we will never know when that half way point is. But the days of Pennsylvania supplying the bulk of the nation's oil needs ended long ago.

    Oil packs lots of energy punch, but there is vast amounts of energy to be saved, easily.
    Wind and solar could be providing huge amounts of energy, but even here in the PNW they supply only something like 7%, and we are way ahead of the rest of the country.

    Congress could, this year, pass a law demanding that
    1) utilities buy energy from individuals at market rates.
    2) give homeowners long term low interest loans to buy solar panels or sheeting.

    In a few years most of the nations daytime energy would be provided by solar.

    We haven't even attempted to tap wind on large scale, yet.
    Wind from the mid-west and coasts could provide the nation with the bulk of evening and twilight power.

    Nothing has as much energy per gallon as oil, but there are lots of other sources.

    In my opinion.

    Dan

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    LaserWolf said:
    Though, 30 years ago oil was more expensive than today IA.

    This price spike was a product of the creation of OPEC.

    it's covered pretty extensively in part 6 of "the prize"

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    LaserWolf said:
    Wind and solar could be providing huge amounts of energy, but even here in the PNW they supply only something like 7%, and we are way ahead of the rest of the country.

    Congress could, this year, pass a law demanding that
    1) utilities buy energy from individuals at market rates.
    2) give homeowners long term low interest loans to buy solar panels or sheeting.

    In a few years most of the nations daytime energy would be provided by solar.

    We haven't even attempted to tap wind on large scale, yet.
    Wind from the mid-west and coasts could provide the nation with the bulk of evening and twilight power.

    Nothing has as much energy per gallon as oil, but there are lots of other sources.

    In my opinion.

    Dan

    Sorry, most of this is just not true, at least not as of now.

    So far, nobody has figured out how to integrate more than 12% of solar/wind power into a large scale grid. The Netherlands sells off about 40% of their wind power at a steep loss for this reason.
    Solar and wind will never be stable or predictable enough to supply a significant portion of any nation's energy supply.

    Even if that problem could be solved (and people have been working at it for 20 years or more w/out any breakthrough in sight), the amount of panels and turbines required to supply the amount of energy you're talking about are astronomical. As I said in my earlier post, these will not cut it as anything close to a substitute for oil.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Horseleech said:
    LaserWolf said:
    Wind and solar could be providing huge amounts of energy, but even here in the PNW they supply only something like 7%, and we are way ahead of the rest of the country.

    Congress could, this year, pass a law demanding that
    1) utilities buy energy from individuals at market rates.
    2) give homeowners long term low interest loans to buy solar panels or sheeting.

    In a few years most of the nations daytime energy would be provided by solar.

    We haven't even attempted to tap wind on large scale, yet.
    Wind from the mid-west and coasts could provide the nation with the bulk of evening and twilight power.

    Nothing has as much energy per gallon as oil, but there are lots of other sources.

    In my opinion.

    Dan

    Sorry, most of this is just not true, at least not as of now.

    So far, nobody has figured out how to integrate more than 12% of solar/wind power into a large scale grid. The Netherlands sells off about 40% of their wind power at a steep loss for this reason.
    Solar and wind will never be stable or predictable enough to supply a significant portion of any nation's energy supply.

    Even if that problem could be solved (and people have been working at it for 20 years or more w/out any breakthrough in sight), the amount of panels and turbines required to supply the amount of energy you're talking about are astronomical. As I said in my earlier post, these will not cut it as anything close to a substitute for oil.

    If you took all the $$$ that go into subsiding oil and put it toward solar wind the problems could be quickly solved.

    Think it's easy drilling in deep water? The Arctic?
    It took many years and lots of money to build the oil infrastructure we have now.

    We could build an alternate structure if the will were there.

    Seems to me.

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    still got my fingers crossed for cold fusion

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Horseleech said:


    o far, nobody has figured out how to integrate more than 12% of solar/wind power into a large scale grid.

    Sorry, this is just not true.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Denmark

    Denmark gets about 20% of their electricity from wind.

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    LaserWolf said:
    Horseleech said:


    o far, nobody has figured out how to integrate more than 12% of solar/wind power into a large scale grid.

    Sorry, this is just not true.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Denmark

    Denmark gets about 20% of their electricity from wind.

    You should read the links you post:

    "Annual wind power production is currently equal to about 19-20% of electricity consumed in Denmark. The proportion of this that is actually consumed in Denmark has been disputed, with claims of up to 40% of wind power being exported"

    Some people dispute this, but after doing extensive reading on this subject a year ago (this is a huge issue on cape Cod), I believe this to be correct. The fact that the Netherlands is stopping several planned wind projects tends to confirm this.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    I'm holding hope for a Dyson sphere.

  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    Oil man T. Boone Pickens has built America's biggest "turbine farm" in the Texas panhandle and has given up on ever having it operational or profitable.

    He has literally invested 100's of millions on this project.

    If this WAS the answer it would be worth trillions and investors would be lining up to get a chunk of the action.

    The cost of bringing this power to the end user, in a state that is 10X the size of Denmark, has proven to be too costly.

    But who knows, maybe someday Gum Drop Island will be totally wind powered.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Horseleech said:
    LaserWolf said:
    Horseleech said:


    o far, nobody has figured out how to integrate more than 12% of solar/wind power into a large scale grid.

    Sorry, this is just not true.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Denmark

    Denmark gets about 20% of their electricity from wind.

    You should read the links you post:

    "Annual wind power production is currently equal to about 19-20% of electricity consumed in Denmark. The proportion of this that is actually consumed in Denmark has been disputed, with claims of up to 40% of wind power being exported"

    Some people dispute this, but after doing extensive reading on this subject a year ago (this is a huge issue on cape Cod), I believe this to be correct. The fact that the Netherlands is stopping several planned wind projects tends to confirm this.

    I read the entire link, thank you.

    How does the portion you quote prove your point:
    "So far, nobody has figured out how to integrate more than 12% of solar/wind power into a large scale grid."

    Furthermore, the electricity that Denmark exports does not leave the grid. The grid simple extends beyond national boarders.

    It's like saying that since Oregon and Washington export Columbia River hydro power to California, hydro power can not be integrated into the grid.

    What is really going on here I think comes down to this:
    "this is a huge issue on cape Cod"

    For years people on the Massachusetts coast have been pumping millions of dollars into attempts to discredit wind power.

    Money that would have been spent on figuring out ways to modernize the grid.
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