the concept of "peak Oil " is blarney

[UFO]

Originally Posted by redyaris

Which begs the question. Are we an intelligent species or not? because this pattern of exploitation to the point of exhaustion is very frequent in our history.

Individually, yes, on occasion. Collective, nope.

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by UFO

Individually, yes, on occasion. Collective, nope.

• Collective = lowest common denominator!

• Individuals = ±Sigma around the mediocre mean!

[Fat Charlie]

Since we're not slaughtering and burying dinosaurs, our current use is unsustainable. Sorry if that makes me sound like a nut.

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Since we're not slaughtering and burying dinosaurs, our current use is unsustainable.

...with all the humans that wars and pestilence have killed and buried over the milleniums, it's too bad they haven't turned into some kind of oil.

[NachtRitter]

That'll be for the next 'intelligent' species to inherit the earth to consume...

[Fat Charlie]

The problem is that we don't tend to use mass graves for humans. When people eventually turn into oil, it doesn't make economic sense to go after it for just a measly $100 a barrel.

I can see Charlton Heston breaking that story, though: Soylent Premium is people!

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

I can see Charlton Heston breaking that story, though: Soylent Premium is people!

...as opposed to Soylent Regular and Soylent Unleaded (wink,wink)!

[3-Wheeler]

Originally Posted by sid

....I also feel that we will probably never find an alternative fuel that is as cheap and versatile as oil was in the last century. Oil will just keep rising in cost until other fuels start to appear more practical. We will also change our lifestyles accordingly, and we will probably feel then that we have made a lot of progress and question why anyone would have even considered using such a primitive concept as private internal combustion vehicles in the first place.

I agree 100%!

And I wonder if we will look back someday and think of this period in time as the Dark Oil Age, when it finally dawns on us, what we have done to ourselves and to the planet that supports our life.

As mentioned previously, the planet will not care one way or the other, but we certainly will.

I think right now we should "save" cheap oil for farmers and such, or those services that make or break our life on this planet. Save it for processes that do not have adequate battery power for example, or with current technologies that are hard to replicate without oil.

I do not "need" or "require" much oil to drive to work and back. Save it for purposes that enable our lives here. If I had an EV and a nice solar array, I could drive to work and back on "free" and renewal energy. P.S. the batteries need to be something other than NiMH, as mine have dropped capacity immensely this year with the summer heat. They would not last in the South.

Very interesting discussion.

Jim.

[NeilBlanchard]

Oil came mostly from algae. Woody plants formed much of the coal.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Where have all the "ANWAR" buffoons gone?

I'm one of those buffoons. We should tap ANWAR the moment fuel prices are highest... somewhere in the future.

Originally Posted by sid

...we will probably never find an alternative fuel that is as cheap and versatile as oil was in the last century. Oil will just keep rising in cost until other fuels start to appear more practical. We will also change our lifestyles accordingly, and we will probably feel then that we have made a lot of progress and question why anyone would have even considered using such a primitive concept as private internal combustion vehicles in the first place.

Perhaps in the short-term (one lifetime?) the standard of living will contract, but in the long-term, alternative fuel sources will expand the standard of living and open up further possibilities.

There is no way that fossil fuels are the cheapest form of energy. It was just the low hanging fruit that we could exploit using the relatively primitive technology of the day. No doubt there will be better and cheaper sources of energy in the future as technology improves. With just .000000045% of the Sun's radiation hitting the Earth, the potential usable energy is unfathomable.

The thing is, conservation doesn't bring innovation. It's the exploitation of resources that have allowed humans the free-time to make scientific discoveries, implement it in technology, and innovate. Consumption of energy and technology use allows us the excess time required to think of the next way to harness energy and how to use it. Some of us use the excess time to watch Jersey Shore, and some of us use that extra time to discover the photovoltaic effect.

Almost nobody will voluntarily live at a lower standard of living. Only people that are arrogant enough to believe they can save the world would volunteer for such a thing.

Human history being as short as it is, we will no doubt solve today's problem and move on to tomorrow's.