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How long will coal, gas and oil last?

Worztron

Hi mods, please move this thread if it is in the wrong place. Thanks.

Hello. How long will coal, gas and oil last?

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partyatmygaff

Ruu wrote: »

How long would a person burn on a fire? Just wondering if worst comes to worst. *cough* old people. >_>

The funny thing is that by the time crude oil runs out (As people predict) you'll be one of those old people.

Captain_Generic

Ruu wrote: »

How long would a person burn on a fire? Just wondering if worst comes to worst. *cough* old people. >_>

They probably wouldn't even notice

"CHANGE THE CHANNEL"

Eric Cartman

I only have 60-70 years left on this planet so if oil lasts that long itll be good enough for me

saywhatyousee

Eric Cartman wrote: »

I only have 60-70 years left on this planet so if oil lasts that long itll be good enough for me

Your logic appeals to me

ScumLord

We're not running out of oil, we're running out of cheap oil. WE can always make oil out of other things if we had to.

The real question is how can I realistically start switching to other power sources. Oil is great stuff though there really isn't a power source like that can take over so we may have to revert to using many other methods of power to fill the gap.

Cars could be the big loss, they just may not be that feasible if hydrogen doesn't work out.

Caveat_

I'd say around 64 years.

Suryavarman

Just came across this by accident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1s_hld3JEQ

Not sure how accurate it is, sounds very optimistic to me. There may be some hope for civilisation as we know it

ScumLord

I say we use it all up in one great oil binge, why drag out the inevitable?

The next generation won't use it properly anyway, they're going all PC, frilly knickered mammys little pansy. They won't blow things up or make ridiculously massive engines and that's what oil is all about it wants to explode in a ball of flames.

I'm driving everywhere in 1st gear from now on.

Captain_Generic

ScumLord wrote: »

I'm driving everywhere in 1st gear from now on.

With a portable generator powering your cigarette lighter

Mike 1972

When I started driving petrol was 55.6 p/litre Its £1.32 now but my pretax income is about the same.

Worztron wrote: »

Hello. How long will coal, gas and oil last?

Pretty much forever.

There will be fossil fuels a thousand years for now but hardly anyone will be able to afford them and our generation will have been considered insane for having burned them (as opposed to using them to produce chemicals and synthetic materials)

Oil will be in seriously short supply over the next two decades (to an extent it is already). By the mid-late 21st century hardly anyone will be using it for fuel. Gas is considered somewhat more abundant now but as people switch from diminishing oil supplies this will prove to be largely false.

Possibly there is enough coal to take us into the 22nd century but we really need to look into cleaner ways of burning it (or considering whether it is actually too valuable to burn) Another possibility is a revival of the old technologies of producing gas or even oil from coal.

Uranium supplies are also dwindling so nuclear power isint really a solution either unless/until they get fusion to work. Trouble is theyve been trying since the 1950's and its looking further away than ever.

tommyhaas

The controversy surrounding the Gulf of Mexico spill will certainly have an adverse effect on deep sea drilling. It'l be interesting to see how the US respond in the long term in trying to balance their need for oil against their vendetta against those trying to provide it

CrackisWhack

Usersname wrote: »

You're dead right, but you always have to speak hypothetically when referring to the future of the planet to avoid upsetting the hoards of ignorant sheep.

People in the know may be keeping quiet, for the moment, due to the short term economic repercussions of the world knowing the actual volume of reserves, personally I think the current global recession is heavily down to oil reserves.

There has ben reports that OPEC have been exagerrating there reserves in order to ramp up prduction and make a quick buck. Personally I think the day of cheap oil has passed us, and it'll be interesting to see how we make the transition to a new form of energy.

Mr Cawley

tommyhaas wrote: »

The controversy surrounding the Gulf of Mexico spill will certainly have an adverse effect on deep sea drilling. It'l be interesting to see how the US respond in the long term in trying to balance their need for oil against their vendetta against those trying to provide it

Are you American or influenced by American media? Your above post was nothing but propaganda! BP is thriving in America and we saw pictures of Tony Blair with Gadaffi helping sign BP to that country's reserves too.

Oil is being discovered everyday, seismic info on oil deposits is always being updated and as the barrel price goes up it will always be economical to extract.

Technology advances have come a long way in the last 15 years.

Many oil exploration firms are discovering in namibia, falklands, kurdistan, North Sea

I'd bet there'll be loads for this lifetime and a couple after!

Oranage2

CrackisWhack wrote: »

People in the know may be keeping quiet, for the moment, due to the short term economic repercussions of the world knowing the actual volume of reserves, personally I think the current global recession is heavily down to oil reserves.

There has ben reports that OPEC have been exagerrating there reserves in order to ramp up prduction and make a quick buck. Personally I think the day of cheap oil has passed us, and it'll be interesting to see how we make the transition to a new form of energy.

I think I read it on boards. but when you consider a 500mil bottle of coke costs about €1.20, and a little of oil costs €1.50, its still relativity cheap since coke only needs a few ingredients easily obtained while oil needs engineers and drills and cost millions to extract.

Eric Cartman

ScumLord wrote: »

I say we use it all up in one great oil binge, why drag out the inevitable?

The next generation won't use it properly anyway, they're going all PC, frilly knickered mammys little pansy. They won't blow things up or make ridiculously massive engines and that's what oil is all about it wants to explode in a ball of flames.

I'm driving everywhere in 1st gear from now on.

this is relevant to my interests, Cadillac Escalade and move to cork and commute to dublin every day here I come

Tonyandthewhale

Mr Cawley wrote: »

Oil is being discovered everyday, seismic info on oil deposits is always being updated and as the barrel price goes up it will always be economical to extract.

Technology advances have come a long way in the last 15 years.

Many oil exploration firms are discovering in namibia, falklands, kurdistan, North Sea

I'd bet there'll be loads for this lifetime and a couple after!

You say it'll be economical to extract as the barrel price goes up but the barrel of oil also becomes more difficult to afford as the barrel price goes up. Just because they could potentially sell oil for decades to come doesn't mean you'll be able to buy it or any products where a lot of it is used in production.

As for new discoveries, none of the recent discoveries have been as big as in Arabia or Russia. They're all relatively small-fry and they're getting harder and harder to find (not to mention the constant increase in demand for oil). Kurdistan has been in production for a while now, North Sea is almost finish, it's questionable whether the supplies in Falkland are big enough to bother with and Namiba's pretty small fry too.
Your predict that there's plenty for this life-time and the next isn't exactly accurate.

johnmcdnl

i dunno about all this oil running out craic - why aren't we seriously planning for it if it only going to be sustainable for like 30-40 years until the prices go ridiculous...
something tells me that OPEC and the likes might be hiding oil somewhere to keep the prices up

after all all you ever hear is planning to get 10-20% of renewable power by 2020 etc etc..

what are we going to suddenly then jump to 80-90% in the next 20 years after that

But if the oil is going to soon start to run out as more than likely it is I think those of us alive are going to be really looking back in anger at those that left it so late to plan for the world without fossil fuels...

Oranage2 wrote: »

I think I read it on boards. but when you consider a 500mil bottle of coke costs about €1.20, and a little of oil costs €1.50, its still relativity cheap since coke only needs a few ingredients easily obtained while oil needs engineers and drills and cost millions to extract.

you can 2x2litres for €2 easily so that's just pure profiteering by coca cola

Daegerty

The shops make a fortune on those small bottles of coke

Tonyandthewhale

OPEC isn't hiding oil, it's more likely they're exaggerating how much they have to keep the market stable and consumption high. OPEC don't want to create mass demand for renewable or nuclear energy.

Even if OPEC or anyone else was hiding a bit away somewhere there's no way they could be hiding enough to make a significant difference to how long the world supply of oil will last.

People in government and lobby groups and the like are saying 20% by 2020 because they're realisitic about the amount of money people are willing to put into renewable energy. Also, if they came out and said we need 100% renewable energy and electric cars by 2020 or whatever people would call them alarmist scare-mongers and sure everyone knows OPEC has loads of oil hidden away somewhere etc etc. It's scary out there but people don't want to be scared.

QuimWedge

Ruu wrote: »

How long would a person burn on a fire? Just wondering if worst comes to worst. *cough* old people. >_>

You could burn fat people. There is more of them, hence more fuel and you solve the obesity crisis while you solve the energy crisis!

Unfortunately however it turns out that us humans are mostly made of water, including the fat ones, and as we all know water doesn't tend to burn well.

tommyhaas

Mr Cawley wrote: »

Are you American or influenced by American media? Your above post was nothing but propaganda! BP is thriving in America and we saw pictures of Tony Blair with Gadaffi helping sign BP to that country's reserves too.

Oil is being discovered everyday, seismic info on oil deposits is always being updated and as the barrel price goes up it will always be economical to extract.

Technology advances have come a long way in the last 15 years.

Many oil exploration firms are discovering in namibia, falklands, kurdistan, North Sea

I'd bet there'll be loads for this lifetime and a couple after!

No Im certainly not American, I was auctually criticising the Americans reaction to the spill and their vendetta against BP

I was at sea with BP for a number of years, and Im still in the industry so I know how the company works, and they're far from reckless, infact most of their own procedures are far more stringent then the offical requirements

My point was that the Americans reaction, and the reaction in general is likely to set the progress of deep sea drilling back given the extent of the (added) risk now attached to it, and at a time when it is extremely necessary

Capt'n Midnight

whale oil is renewable

cows emit methane

we can replace coal with charcoal from the Amazon / taiga

problem ? :pac:

Mr Cawley

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

You say it'll be economical to extract as the barrel price goes up but the barrel of oil also becomes more difficult to afford as the barrel price goes up. Just because they could potentially sell oil for decades to come doesn't mean you'll be able to buy it or any products where a lot of it is used in production.

As for new discoveries, none of the recent discoveries have been as big as in Arabia or Russia. They're all relatively small-fry and they're getting harder and harder to find (not to mention the constant increase in demand for oil). Kurdistan has been in production for a while now, North Sea is almost finish, it's questionable whether the supplies in Falkland are big enough to bother with and Namiba's pretty small fry too.
Your predict that there's plenty for this life-time and the next isn't exactly accurate.

The North sea won't have major discoveries but there are blocks yet to be explored. Big blocks too in Kurd. ala Gulf Keystone

While Namibia and West Coast Africa is small fry now, as you say, seismics are beginning to show that it will be a major area in future.

Predictions are difficult, my comment was merely a suggestion that layman info, i.e. 30/40 years of oil left doesn't reflect the reality and is a lazy assupmtion by the people who take it as gospel.

imo.

I am not the gospel ha

ScumLord

Eric Cartman wrote: »

this is relevant to my interests, Cadillac Escalade and move to cork and commute to dublin every day here I come

I'd like to get a Cadillac Escalade to use as a camping stove. It would just be me, mother nature and the sound of a V8 redlining for however long it would take to cook a full pig.

Usersname

I lol every time I read about people replacing oil with biofuel etc etc. Oil is not just for electricity and cars people!

A documentary came out in 2009 called 'Collapse', check it out if you want to understand peak oil.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1503769/ can be a little sensationalist at times but the information seems solid.

Sea Sharp

People often forget the potential of bio-engineering.
I remember reading an article describing bacteria that consumed wood-chips and excreted an oil like substance.
Or GM crops that grow plants for ethanol used as fuel.
And the helium3 on the moon.
I can see a big switch to alternative fuels other than wave and wind towards the end of this decade and the next.