Peak Oil!

[Splatter]

I suppose it fits here best, not in any of the other directory threads. Anyway. This whole peak oil thing has captivated me recently and I was wondering if anyone here has heard about it to and what they think of it?

I personally think it's going to happen/Happening as we speak, I mean look at food and oil prices Food's risen what, 30% or something? Oil's up at $130 a barrel so yeah..I believe it's happening, at least we've reached the peak of production and we're on that downward slope now.

If you don't know about it and would like to you can find the wiki link HERE , it's not the most informative article about (being wiki an' all) but alot of the others seem to prophesise the death of the industrial nation, so I thought that'd be a bit better read for anyone mildly interested

So yeah, interested to hear what you think!

 

[Colin_T]

We hit peak oil some years ago.
The price of oil is only going to get higher now as there is more demand for it from China & India. The US wants as much as they can get, hence the war in the middle east. Most other developed countries are looking at alternative forms of energy but still rely on oil too much.
When oil hits $150 a barrel people will start to give up their cars and find others ways of getting around. They already are here. When petrol hit $1.50 a litre there were only half as many cars on the street after 6pm. People are still using their vehicles to get to work and for some things, but now they are going out less and walking around the neighbourhood or cycling instead.
Most of the people out there who are still driving around everywhere after dark are the yahoos in their hotted up V8s & turbo charged cars going out for a spot of street racing. Too much money and not enough brains

 

[Lynden]

The US has a very large amount of oil in reserve, so it won't run out anytime soon.

As for the prices rising, this is probably more likely to do with simple markup and extra taxing than with the supply actually running thin. Food prices may be reflecting the biofuel trend, which is, by the way, a scam (more energy is needed to produce it that it actually puts out). If grass becomes the primary source of biofuel instead of corn, then it may be effective; otherwise, it is not.

Peak oil "panic" strikes me as a bit of propaganda to get people interested in alternative fuels. I agree with this, so long as they are responsible technologies; so far, most of them don't seem to be.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

As has already been said the price of oil has gone up mainly for three reasons.

1) More demand from previously low demand sources.
2) More money speculators buying up oil due to the increased demand.
3) Governments (at least the UK one) making insane amounts of money out of it by taxing the crap out of it.
3a) Petrol companies not wanting the tax to eat into their massive profit margins so they put their price up even more and passing the cost onto the end consumer who they know has no choice but to bend over and accept it.

I think its a bit harse to say bio-fuel is a scam. It is a viable energy resource when done correctly. However as you say creating more farm land to grow poor "bio-efficent" (Like that word? I just made it up ) crops or using famr land used for growing food for human consumption is not a good call.

Using the millions of tons of "scrap" produce though to create bio-fuels could go a long way towards contributing to our every increasing energy consumption needs.

There is no doubt that at some point (probably fairly soon) Oil is no longer going to be a viable energy resource. I'm not overly worried about the world suddenly falling apart and everyone going back to living in caves again though because of it. The auto industry for example is a multi-billion dollar industry and I dont see car manfacturers giving up making cars just because there is no oil anymore. Alternatives will come in as big business has the money to research and back new energy resources. There probably will be a "slump" in general as people adjust but I like to think that as a species we are pretty adjustable.

 

[Splatter]

The US has a very large amount of oil in reserve, so it won't run out anytime soon.

What about the rest of us? Ah well, you have a point ^^

[quote post='2007738' date='May 16 2008, 06:28 AM']I'm not overly worried about the world suddenly falling apart and everyone going back to living in caves again though because of it.[/quote]

I sort of see what you mean, but I think it's important to consider 90% of the transport network runs off oil (all imports from foreign cultures being key here) if said alternatives don't come into play soon enough then alot of people may run out of food I mean I'm not worried about clothes shipments stopping for year or two, I can survive in the ones I have, but I think it'll be dangerous if the food network shuts down.

Infact the entire food network would essentially shut down if the alternatives aren't commercialised in time